Oh, Brother!
by CutiePaTuttiFruity
Summary: This follows Darcy Diggory throughout her years at Hogwarts. The main pairing is OC/Neville but has a little taste of everything. If you don't like a pairing that I throw in, I apologize, please stay! The first books are pretty fast paced but will slow down around Book 3. Rated T for now, will be M later, but until then enjoy! R/F/F are appreciated!
1. Book 1: Chapter 1: The Train

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

**Author's Note: Hello! I hope you like this story. I try to stay as canon as possible only bending it to fit my character in. I switch between book and movie as to better show the relationship with Neville, however, I don't stay true to either one completely. Please feel free to leave your opinions, review/favorites/follows make me really happy! Thank you!**

Darcy Diggory was an 11 year old witch. The year was 1991 and it was her first year to go to Hogwarts. She had shoulder-length dark brown wavy hair, brown eyes, and wore glasses. Her brother, Cedric, was two years older than she and he was pretty popular with his classmates.

Darcy and Cedric boarded the Hogwarts Express. She looked around the train, confused about where she should sit. She considered asking her brother if she could sit with him, but she didn't want to be the annoying little sister trailing her popular brother. Cedric put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "If you want to stay with me, you can, but I know you'll make friends on your own just fine," he smiled down at her.

Darcy wanted to stay with her brother, that was true, but he was right. She never had trouble making friends. She smiled back and replied, "I'll look around and meet new people."

"Okay, if you need me, it shouldn't be too hard to find me," he said.

"I'll be okay, Ced. I'll see you at the castle," she said.

They parted ways and she went the opposite direction of her brother. As she began to look around at all the students in the different compartments, she couldn't help but notice that most of them seemed to already know each other. Returning students, no doubt. She needed to find another first year soon. Just as she thought this, she noticed a boy who looked quite lost. She didn't think she'd get another chance like this, so she took it.

"Excuse me, are you looking for somewhere to sit, too?"

The round faced boy looked at her with utmost bewilderment. He almost bore the look of someone who had been caught doing something wrong, but nonetheless nodded his head in agreement.

Darcy smiled more brightly and took his hand as she lead the way down the hall, looking for an empty compartment. They passed several students and filled compartments, but eventually finally found one and seized it. She let go of his hand when they got inside and sat down next to the window. He reluctantly took the seat across from her and kept his gaze out the window as she looked at him.

There was silence as Darcy, still smiling, studied the boy looking out the window. He was sitting with his hands in his lap and his arms tucked inwards, she figured he must be nervous. She waited a couple more moments in case he wanted to say anything, but seeing as that wasn't working very well, she started the conversation.

"What's your name?" she questioned

He looked at her with a hint of cowardice to his face, "I'm N-Neville Longbottom."

"Well, Neville Longbottom, I'm Darcy Diggory. This is my first year going to Hogwarts, is it your first year too?"

Neville finally seemed to slightly relax as he nodded and added, "I-I'm nervous about what house I'll be in."

Darcy pushed up her glasses and replied, "Yeah, I know what you mean about being nervous about that. My brother is a third year and he's in Hufflepuff. He's the best brother ever and he's got a lot of friends, so I know that if I get sorted into Hufflepuff I'll be well taken care of. The thing is, I want to make my own friends… So I don't think I _want_ to be Hufflepuff."

He looked out the window again and mumbled to himself, "It would be nice if we were in the same house, so then I would know somebody."

Just then, a bushy haired girl peeped her head in, "Excuse me, do you have room for another? All the other compartments are full."

Darcy perked up and scooted over to make room for the new girl, "Of course! I'm Darcy Diggory and this is Neville Longbottom. What's your name?"

She shuffled inside sand sat next to Darcy, "I'm Hermione Granger. Are you two first years as well?"

Neville had tensed up at the sight of the new girl and just nodded. Darcy took this as her cue to talk, "Yes, we were just discussing houses. Do you know which house you would want to be in?"

Hermione opened her mouth to talk when something jumped out of Neville's pocket and onto the floor. It was a toad, both of the girls jumped in surprise. Neville shouted, "Trevor! No!" as the amphibian jumped out into the bustling hallway. He fell on the floor in pursuit of trying to catch him. Quickly he jumped up to his feet and looked at the girls who mirrored his motion.

"You guys have to help me find him, he was a gift from my uncle! My gran will be so mad if I lose him!"

He clumsily jetted out of the compartment as Hermione and Darcy looked at each other. Darcy shrugged and suggested, "We better help him."


	2. Book 1: Chapter 2: Sorting

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

After looking for the toad with no luck on the train and riding the boats to Hogwarts, Neville found Trevor at the feet of the woman giving the first years instructions. Professor McGonagall did not seem too pleased by this, but instructed the students to proceed anyway.

Upon entering the Great Hall, Hermione told Darcy about the enchanted ceilings as they both took in their magical surroundings. It was nerve racking to anticipate the sorting hat. As Prof. McGonagall went through the list, Darcy knew she would be picked soon because her last name was at the beginning of the alphabet.

After a girl named Millicent Bulstrode was sorted into Slytherin, the woman called Darcy's name.

Darcy sat on the stool and felt the hat put on top of her head. He spoke very clearly and said, "Ah, Diggory. Your brother fits in Hufflepuff very well, but you're different. I'll put you in… Gryffindor!"

She let out the breath she had been holding and went to sit at the table of applauding Gryffindors. She glanced at the Hufflepuff table to see her brother give a reassuring head nod and smile. Her brother was very fair and kind, just like a true Hufflepuff.

Her friends Neville and Hermione were also sorted into Gryffindor and were sitting close by. Hermione seemed to have made other friends with two boys named Harry Potter and Ron Weasley on the train because she spoke to them a lot during dinner. Darcy, of course, knew about Harry Potter, but didn't think he was much different from anyone else. Plus, out of all the attention he was getting, she thought it might be a relief for one less person to bug him.

Darcy was sitting next to a boy who was sorted after her named Seamus Finnigan. He was a funny lad who had a strong Irish accent. They were all talking about their bloodline. Seamus said his dad's a muggle and his mum is a witch, except his mum didn't tell his dad until they were married. Ron asked about Neville, he said that his family is all magic blood but they thought he was a squib for a long time. He told them about how his Uncle Algie would purposely put him in terrible situations to try and get some magic out of him and when Neville finally showed some magic, his uncle was so happy, he bought him his toad.

After eating, the prefects led them to the Gryffindor tower and spoke the password to let them in the common room. Darcy met her roommates: Hermione, Lavender Brown, and Pavarti Patil. All of them got along well the first night and stayed up talking about their train experiences.


	3. Book 1: Chapter 3: Classes

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

The first week of classes went well enough. Darcy loved Charms, but History of Magic was boring. Potions class was frightening and dark, also the constant belittling Professor Snape set towards Harry was completely uncalled for. In Herbology, Professor Sprout automatically took a liking to Darcy because her brother was in the Professor's house. Transfiguration was easily Darcy's favourite class, though. Professor McGonagall, the head of Gryffindor house, was intriguing to learn from.

They hadn't actually done much magic in the first few weeks at Hogwarts; they simply learned the fundamentals. After about month or so, they started doing magic and Darcy took to it well. But upon learning the floating charm and turning a match into a needle, there was also a flying instruction. They went outside with Madam Hooch and Neville had lost control of himself, causing Madam Hooch to take him to the hospital wing. Darcy was worried for her friend, whom she had been spending a lot of time with. Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter had a spat and when Harry wanted to return Neville's remembrall, Darcy accompanied him.

They walked in silence at first, but Darcy felt like she had to ask, "Did you get in trouble with Professor McGonagall earlier?"

Harry snickered, "No, I didn't, actually. I thought I had but she introduced me to Oliver Wood, the captain of Gryffindor's quidditch team. She told me I'm going to be seeker!"

Darcy gasped, "Wow! That's amazing, Harry! Congratulations!"

They reached the hospital wing and saw Neville sitting in a hospital bed while Madam Pomfrey gave him a potion to drink. He finished it and saw the two. Madam Pomfrey walked away and Darcy ran to hug her friend. After they pulled apart, Harry held out the remembrall to Neville.

"Thanks," said Neville as he took it back.

"No, thank you, Neville. Because of that, I'm the new Gryffindor seeker," Harry explained.

Neville looked surprised, "Oh! … Well, um… I'm glad I could help..!"

Darcy then took her chance to intervene, "Harry is really good, Neville, you should've seen him!"

Harry scratched his arm in modesty, "Now, I'm really not that great. I just didn't want Malfoy to get his way."

"Professor McGonagall thinks you're good enough to be seeker, Harry. That's a pretty big accomplishment," Darcy protested.

Harry looked sheepish, "Thanks, anyway."

It was quiet for a moment before Harry spoke again, "Speaking of quidditch, I've got to go meet Oliver Wood. He's going to teach me in a bit, I'll see you guys later!"

Harry sprinted out of the wing as his friends shouted "Bye" and "See you later!" Then Darcy and Neville stood in silence for a bit before both of them started talking at the same time. They laughed and Neville said, "You go first."

Darcy smiled, "I was just going to ask how you're feeling."

"Oh! I'm doing fine, my wrist barely hurts anymore and Madam Pomfrey says I can go to classes tomorrow like usual."

"That's great," she said, "So, what were you going to say?"

Neville blushed a little, "I, um, well… Thanks for coming to visit me."

Darcy just laughed, "Of course I'd come to visit you, Neville. We're friends, right?"

He just smiled back, "Yeah, we are."


	4. Book 1: Chapter 4: Halloween

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

Neville and Darcy worked on a lot of their homework together and started getting to know each other's strengths and weaknesses. Parvati and Lavender teased her because they thought she liked him. She just took their teasing as a joke and laughed with them. She didn't particularly like Neville as anything more than a friend. She was too young to know what that felt like anyway. She just thought he was sweet and that she felt like he trusted her and in turn she trusted him as well.

On Halloween there was a commotion about a troll being in the school. Even though Darcy was quite scared, Neville seemed to be more so. The two remained silent, but stuck next to each other in the bustling crowd. They made it to Gryffindor tower safely and there was a lot of talking students around the common room.

"How did a troll get in the school?"

"What if the teachers can't handle it?"

"The teachers can handle it."

"What happened to Professor Quirrell? Is he going to be okay?"

"Why won't they let any of the older students try to help?"

Just then two red-headed twins laughed at the last comment Darcy picked up. They pushed past Darcy and Neville to talk to the boy who had said it.

"Oh, Oliver just because you're captain of the quidditch team doesn't mean that you can go around gloating," one twin said.

The boy called Oliver addressed both of them, "Look, guys, I'm not trying to gloat. I just want to," he crossed his arms, "help." He looked very proud as he said the last word.

The twins roared with laughter again. The other one spoke now, "I think you just want to show off for a girl."

Oliver's eyes twitched to someone across the room for half of a second, but this didn't go unnoticed by the twins.

"Oi, Fred, who's he looking at you think," questioned one to the other as they turned their heads in the direction of Darcy.

"Hmm, hard to say George," Fred's eyes rested on Darcy. "Surely he can't have meant this first year. Say, what's your name?"

Darcy looked side to side, making sure he can't have meant her. His brown eyes were, in fact, unmistakably on her. She perked up and said, "I'm Darcy Diggory."

George nodded his head, "Diggory! Cedric's little sister. He's the seeker on the Hufflepuff quiddich team. We lost big time thanks to him last year."

Fred continued, "So that might mean you could have a knack at the whole quiddich thing, too."

"Yeah, maybe Oli here is teaching you quiddich in secret, if you know what I mean" the twins nudged and winked at each other.

Oliver intervened, "I've never even met this girl. I don't have a thing for anyone, thank you. Now I'm going to go see if there's a way to convince Percy to let me go help."

"That's likely," Fred and George said in unison.

They were about to make their way around the common room for more people to poke fun at when Darcy called, "Hey, you two, wait!"

Fred and George turned around to look at her. She put her hands on her hips, "It's rude to ask someone their name and not introduce yourself."

They looked at each other and George smirked, "My name is George Weasley and this is Fred. You may know our younger brother. He's in your year. His name is Ron."

Recognition showed on her face, "I know Ron, yeah. I should have guessed," she giggled and looked at Neville. "Did you know that they were siblings?"

Neville must have thought she forgot he was there because he jumped at his name, "Oh," he looked at Fred and George, "huh… yeah, I knew that. Isn't Percy your brother, too?"

The twins rolled their eyes simultaneously, "Yes, that prat is our brother unfortunately," Fred said.

Neville and Darcy looked at each other with worried expressions. The twins must have noticed, because the subject was changed quickly by George, "But anyway. We're off to try and find Ron. Have you guys seen him?"

They both looked around and Darcy shrugged, "No we haven't."

George started walking away and Fred said, "Well, thanks anyway. See you around, Diggory." He winked at her and then caught up with George.

Darcy could feel herself blushing but before she could think why, Neville said, "Let's go sit over there, Darcy." He tugged at the arm of her robes and pointed to an empty spot on the couch closest to the window.

They sat and Neville started the conversation, which was a rarity, "Um, Darcy, you don't think Fred Weasley was trying to… flirt with you?"

Darcy looked taken aback and started blushing again, "I… I don't think so! Was he? I'm probably two years younger than him, no way!"

Some of the concern on Neville's face wiped away, "Yeah, they joke around all the time, so it was probably nothing."

Darcy nodded, "But, they're right. I haven't seen Ron, Harry, or Hermione. I hope they're okay."


	5. Book 1: Chapter 5: Second Semester

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

Harry, Ron, and Hermione apparently fought the troll by themselves, and nothing significant happened between then and Christmas Break. With Christmas break, Darcy returned home and spent it with her family. Neville and Darcy met on the last day at Neville's house and Darcy was to stay the night and return to Hogwarts the next day with him.

That night, Darcy and Neville exchanged Christmas gifts. They stayed up, talking about their break and what they did but his Gran stopped the chatter and told them it was time to go to sleep. They obeyed and soon found themselves back at Hogwarts and into the swing of things again.

After Halloween, Darcy had brief conversations with the Weasley twins. They made each other laugh and she was excited to see them after break. A few weeks back into classes, she met them in the common room.

"Oh, hey Diggory," greeted George.

"Now really, you guys can call me Darcy. I don't mind."

"Okay, Darcy, how've you been? Is first year really hard," Fred teased as George snickered.

Darcy rolled her eyes, but kept a smile on her face, "Not nearly as hard as it must be for you to call me Darcy."

Fred laughed, "It's weird calling you by your first name, you're a first year. I bet not even Ron gets to call you that. What - are George and I better than Ickles Ronniekins?"

Darcy raised an eyebrow at the name he called his brother, "As a matter of fact, Ron can call me whatever he likes. It's not like we're particular friends or anything. How can I be friends with him when he, Harry, and Hermione are always off sneaking about?"

George chuckled a bit, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're jealous."

Darcy scoffed, "Jealous? Well, I'm glad you know better because I don't see anything to be jealous of."

George shrugged, "I guess you're right. There's nothing to be jealous of." He looked at his brother with a smirk and Fred finished, "Except maybe you're jealous that they call each other by their first names."

Darcy laughed, "Okay, well, Weasley, I hardly find anything wrong with calling each other by surname."

Fred and George just laughed. Darcy then saw Neville walking in eating a chocolate frog. George and Fred noticed her looking at him and George opened his mouth to make a comment. Before he could start teasing, Darcy started, "Don't even say anything. I bet you'd like a chocolate frog too! So, if you'll excuse me boys." She stalked off and they were left making kiss faces behind her.

She skipped over to Neville's side, "Hey! Is that a chocolate frog?"

Neville looked at her, "Yeah, Harry just gave it to me."

"Why did he do that?"

He looked embarrassed and said feebly, "Well, umm… Malfoy sort of put a leg locking curse on me and Hermione fixed it. Harry gave me the frog so that it might cheer me up."

Darcy looked angry, "Oh, Malfoy's such a git! Sometimes I just want to punch him!"

Neville just nodded, "Yeah, I know what you mean."

They took a seat at a part of the room that they couldn't see Fred and George. Neville broke off part of the leg of the frog and gave it to her. She accepted it happily and chowed down. They finished the chocolate in silence and then Neville was looking at his hands.

"Harry and Hermione told me I need to stand up for myself more," he said in a kind of saddened tone.

Darcy nodded, "Yeah," she tried to sound comforting, "you should, Neville."

Neville nodded, too and kept his gaze coward and away from Darcy. He sounded on the verge of tears, "Gran tells me that I'm a coward, too."

Darcy was taken aback, "No, Neville you are not a coward! Why would she tell you that?"

Neville sniffed and wiped his face as Darcy acted like she didn't notice. He remained quiet for a while and then Darcy sighed, "Neville, I know this probably isn't the time to ask you this, but, I've been thinking about it a lot lately and I really want to know. But you don't have to tell me if you don't want, it's your business, of course."

Neville looked up with his slightly reddened eyes, but kept his head down, "W-what is it?" His voice cracked as he asked.

"Well," Darcy took a deep breath, "you live with your Gran and you talk about your family often, but…" She stopped briefly before continuing as cautiously as she could sound, "Did… something happen to your parents?"

This was obviously the complete wrong thing to say, because Neville made a coughing noise and continued to keep his head down while Darcy saw a tear reach his knee.

"Oh, I'm sorry Neville," she cursed herself, "I knew I shouldn't have asked that right now. You can tell me when you want to. I'm so sorry."

Darcy then looked down, too, and put her face in her hands as her elbows rested on her knees. She was mentally kicking herself in the face. "Why did I ask him that!?" she thought. Then, she came to the conclusion that he probably wants to be alone. After taking another deep breath she looked at him.

"Neville. I'm such an arse. I'm just going to go to my dorm and leave you alone. You can walk with me if you want, but I won't blame you if you don't."

She stood up to leave and looked at Neville. He remained in the same position and she took that to mean he won't be accompanying her up the stairwell. She sighed, "Good night."


	6. Book 1: Chapter 6: Quidditch

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

The next few days, Neville seemed distant and Darcy didn't want to push his boundaries, so she decided to hang out with her roommates Pavarti and Lavender instead. They weren't bad company. The girls talked about the professors a lot and Lavender expressed her extreme dislike toward Professor Sprout.

"I mean, it's not Professor Sprout necessarily, it's just that class in general! It always smells like dirt and when we have to deal with the plants, it just gets my nails dirty!"

Parvati seemed to know exactly what Lavender meant, but Darcy looked at her own nails that she chewed and there was practically nothing for dirt to get under.

"Professor Sprout knows my brother well because he's in her house. It's weird not being in my brother's house, but I don't mind. Say, Parvati, isn't you're sister in a different house," Darcy suggested to keep the conversation going.

"Yeah," Parvati started, "Padma is my twin. She's in Ravenclaw. It's really weird being away from her but it is nice to make my own friends."

"I feel the same way!" Darcy exclaimed, remembering making the same remark when she first met Neville on the train.

The rest of the week drew on and Neville didn't say anything to her. Even at the quidditch game, that Saturday, Neville sat with Hermione and Ron. Darcy stayed with Parvati and Lavender. Malfoy and his followers decided to sit near Neville, Hermione, and Ron. He insulted Harry and the Gryffindor team to Ron and Neville. Surprisingly, Neville stood up to Malfoy. Then Darcy's attention went back to the field when Hermione pointed at Harry. He was going straight towards the ground at a hurdling speed. Then Malfoy made another insult and Ron and Neville jumped him. Darcy didn't see it but the game was over and apparently Gryffindor won.

In the common room afterwards, they were all celebrating. There was candy and fire whiskey, but first years weren't allowed to drink. The story of how Ron and Neville didn't take anything from Malfoy came up. Darcy was very happy for her friend finally standing up for himself. Neville noticed the look of happiness on her face and after the story was told and everyone went back to individual chit-chat, Neville found Darcy.

She was surprised when he talked to her, "Look, Darcy, I haven't been fair. Can we talk, y'know," he looked around, "away from the crowd?"

She was so taken off guard, she didn't know what to say. She just nodded as he led the way to the staircase. There was a couple hidden in the corner snogging, but Neville didn't notice so Darcy didn't say anything. They went up a few steps and Neville sat down, gesturing for Darcy to join him.

She sat and he didn't wait to start talking, "I've been thinking a lot and you guys were all right. I'm so glad I stood up to Malfoy. That was the best feeling in the world! I've missed talking to you this week, though. I thought about it a lot and I will tell you about my mum and dad. I know you were just curious.

"Well, they were aurors, y'know, finding dark wizards when you-know-who was still at large. After he lost his power, my mum and dad had to keep searching for his followers. Well, there was a Death Eater who tortured them with the Cruciatus Curse to get information from them about her friends or something, but my parents refused. She used the curse on them so much that they…well…they kind of went mad. They don't remember anything about themselves and are permanent patients in St. Mungo's. I visit them often but they don't know that I'm their son. It's alright, though, because they were brave and didn't give her any of the information she wanted."

There was a silence that Darcy didn't want to break. To break this silence would feel like walking in on something private. Actually, she did already walk in on something private, though the couple didn't seem to hear a thing Neville had said. She finally put a hand on Neville's arm, "Neville… I am so sorry. I had no idea."

He showed a facade of content and shrugged, "It's okay. Now you do, though. Maybe you can come visit with me sometime."

Darcy felt like she imposing on him so much by just knowing and took her hand off of him, "Are you sure that's a good idea? Wouldn't your Gran-"

"I think Gran would be happy to know I shared it with you. She really likes you."

Darcy blushed and considered it, "How about over easter break? Will you be visiting them?"

Neville looked shocked, he didn't think she would actually want to go visit with him, "Y-yeah. I am, actually. I'll send a letter to Gran and ask."


	7. Book 1: Chapter 7: Easter

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

Neville's grandmother didn't allow Darcy to come with them to visit because it was such short notice. On the bright side for Darcy, she had more time to do the ridiculous amount of homework they had been given. She went home with Cedric and the family had a wonderful time together. Darcy had been feeling grey since Neville confided in her. She didn't dare to tell anyone his story, though.

Coming back from holiday, it seemed everyone was just as exhausted as she was with all the work they had been given. She didn't even get to see George and Fred because she was working so much. She met up with Neville and they went over what they did apart and when Darcy asked how the visit went, he said it was usual. She wasn't sure what that meant, but she was sure she would find out soon enough.

A couple weeks after break, Neville rushes into the common room. Darcy had been chatting with Lavender and Parvati about how greasy Snape's hair was. She stopped to look at Neville, who was desperately searching for something. She got up to see what he was on about.

"What's wrong, Neville?"

"I'm looking for Harry Potter," he said breathlessly, "I need to warn him quickly, about Malfoy."

Darcy didn't think there was enough time to ask what, and thought it'd be better off for him to find Harry. So she did all she could by giving him information, "He and Hermione left. I think they were going to visit Ron in the hospital wing."

He didn't respond and left the common room in a rush. It was getting late and she hoped he would be back before curfew.

Darcy went to bed a couple hours later when Neville, Hermione, and Harry were nowhere to be found. She stayed up in her bed when she finally heard Hermione walk in the room. She didn't know if she should ask what happened or not and decided it would be best to wait until morning.

Neville told her the next morning at breakfast that he had been trying to find Harry because he overheard Malfoy saying that he was going to catch him with a dragon. He noted with a guilty tone that they were caught out of bed, lost Gryffindor 150 points, and all had detention, including Malfoy.

Darcy didn't know what to say except that detention wouldn't be too bad with Harry and Hermione.


	8. Book 1: Chapter 8: End of Term

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

Neville didn't tell Darcy anything about the detention he had served except that it was really awful and he never wanted to get in trouble again. Darcy agreed that they wouldn't do anything to get in trouble. Neville exclaimed that he would even try to stop Harry, Ron, and Hermione from getting in trouble, too.

Examinations were given and they went by like any other test. It was stressful, but Darcy felt she did just fine the first day. That night, however, Darcy woke in the middle of the night to find that Hermione wasn't in bed. She didn't know how long Hermione had been gone, but went to the common room, nonetheless.

When she reached the bottom step, she was horrified to find Neville on the ground, his body apparently frozen. His eyes darted toward Darcy and she could tell he was trying to say something but couldn't make his body move. Darcy rushed to his side and kneeled down, observing that it must be the body bind curse. She remembered reading something about it and it didn't have a counter curse.

"Neville, I know you're scared and I'm afraid I can't help you. This doesn't have a counter-curse. I have to go get Professor McGonagall. She'll know what to do," Darcy then ran out of the room and retrieved Professor McGonagall, telling her about Neville and how Hermione was missing.

Prof. McGonagall instructed Darcy to go back to bed and that she would take care of Neville and find out about Hermione. Darcy reluctantly obeyed and couldn't catch a wink of sleep that night.

The next day Neville was okay and when they were eating lunch, Hermione and Ron came up to him.

Hermione started, "I'm sorry, Neville. It wasn't anything personal. It's just that Harry, Ron, and I needed to get the Sorcerer's Stone before Snape did. Well at least we though it was Snape, it actually turned out to be Professor Quirrell."

Darcy asked, "What's a Sorcerer's Stone?"

There were obviously more people listening to Hermione talking now, but she went on anyway, "It's a stone that can make any metal into pure gold and can create the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal."

Neville intervened, "Why did Professor Quirrell want it?"

Hermione looked scared and sad, "Well, Dumbledore told Ron and me that he wanted it for You-Know-Who."

People around them gasped and Dean Thomas, who wasn't supposed to be part of the conversation piped in, "But I thought You-Know-Who was dead."

Hermione scoffed, "Of course he's not dead. I think he wanted it so that he wouldn't die. Harry fought him though."

Ron interjected, "And Harry won! He's not in great shape right now, of course, though," he said in a remorseful tone.

Hermione looked at him with a hint of aggravation for interrupting her, "But, anyway, Neville. I'm sorry for what I did. I think you have ought to know why."

Neville's face turned a little red and he replied, "Thanks, Hermione."

Neville and Darcy went to visit Harry as soon as they could to give him a card and a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean. He unfortunately wasn't awake when they arrived, so they just left them for when he woke up.

Exams continue and finally the end-of-term feast comes. Harry returns to eat with them and lots of people are happy to see him, including Darcy. Slytherin was in the lead for the House cup, but Dumbledore awarded last minute points to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville. Gryffindor now won and Darcy was ecstatic for her friend's bravery.

When they were getting on the train, Neville and Darcy sat together as they had every other train ride.

"So, I've been thinking," Neville began, "I want to come stay with you for a few days this summer, if that's alright."

Darcy grinned, "Of course it's alright! But only if I get to meet your parents."

Neville had a small smile, "Of course you can. I'll write to you so we can make plans."

Darcy beamed, "I can't wait!"

**-End of Book 1-**


	9. Book 2: Chapter 1: Back to School

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

**Author's Note: YAY! Made it to the second book! I'd like to thank the guest who reviewed asking for more, haha. Please feel free to leave your comments! Again, it really helps motivate me to continue posting regularly. **

Darcy and Neville saw each other twice over summer and they went to visit his parents together. His father seemed distant but his mother saw Neville and seemed to know that she enjoyed his presence. He gave her a piece of gum and she was very happy about it. When she had chewed the gum, she gave him back the wrapper that was on it and he seemed happy. He explained that she always did that when they visited and that he kept all of the wrappers he's gotten in the past in a box under his bed.

After they visited Neville's parents, Darcy stayed with him for a few days. About two weeks after that, Neville came to stay at Darcy's for a few days and it was very fun. They went swimming in the lake close to her house and told each other what they'd done while they were apart.

Over the summer at some point, Darcy had started to grow into her body more- her chest was forming into breasts, her hair grew a bit longer and she had started her period. Her mother had "the talk" with her but she still didn't really understand why people would do that anyway.

When Darcy boarded the train, she was greeted by her friends with hugs and exclamations of, "I missed you!" She noticed that Harry and Ron weren't on the train only because Hermione had stated that she couldn't find them. She blew it off, thinking it was probably just another stunt gone wrong that they would probably be in trouble for later.

As it turned out, Harry and Ron had done something to get themselves in trouble. They stole their dad's flying car and crashed into the very old Whomping Willow tree in front of the school. Darcy rolled her eyes and Hermione scolded them for it. Ron even got a Howler from his mother the next day about how much trouble he was in.

Other than that, they met the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart. Darcy didn't think he was very cute at all but did think his stories were _interesting_ to say the least. Hermione, Parvati, and Lavender were practically drooling over him.

Darcy dismissed their childish crushes and noticed that the boys weren't fond of him at all. On one of the first days he was teaching, he let loose tons of cornish pixies and they attacked the students. They mostly just jabbed at Darcy, but they picked Neville up by his ears and hung him on a chandelier. BY HIS EARS. After that, Darcy decided she disliked Lockhart too.

Classes were the same and she was spending more time with Neville. Now that she knew about his parents, she felt very close to him.

Parvati and Lavender noticed how much time Darcy and Neville spent together and even though they teased her before, they started embarrassing her even more.

One day, Darcy was sitting at breakfast alone and Lavender and Parvati sat on either side of her. She knew they were up to something just by the looks on their faces.

"What's up you guys?" Darcy questioned skeptically.

Lavender said, "We were just wondering if you felt lonely without your boyfriend."

Darcy gritted her teeth, "That is enough you two. How many times have I told you? Neville and I are _**just friends**_. Please just drop this already."

The two got up and stalked away, Parvati adding, "Geez, someone doesn't know how to take a joke."

Darcy contemplated this if it were just a joke or if she needed to spend less time with Neville to get them off her back. She had considered doing so the last time they teased her about him. She decided that she didn't care what they think and she'd continue to do what makes her happy.

'I know,' she thought, 'I'll just spend more time with other people rather than less time with Neville, that should make them lighten up.'


	10. Book 2: Chapter 2: Friendships

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

Since Darcy agreed with herself that she would talk to more people, she went to Seamus and Dean.

The three were sitting in the common room together working on an assignment for Potions and somehow the subject was changed.

"Oi, Diggory," Seamus started, "Why have you suddenly started hanging out with us?"

Darcy was taken aback, "What do you mean? I thought we were friends."

Dean shifted uncomfortably and tried to focus on the work while Seamus continued, "Well, it's just that you're usually with Longbottom. I mean, it's not like I dislike you or anything. I was just wondering if you guys were fighting or something."

"What? No, no," Darcy laughed, "It's not that. To tell you the truth, I just want Parvati and Lavender to stop teasing me about him."

Both Seamus and Dean nodded to show understanding.

Darcy smiled, "But I'm glad I am hanging out with you two more. You guys are cool."

Dean finally spoke up, "You're not half bad yourself, Darcy."

They finished the assignment and then Darcy found Neville sitting in a chair by himself working on something.

"What are you working on?"

Neville looked up, surprised and then relaxed seeing it was Darcy, "You scared me a bit Darcy. I'm just working on Potions. I saw that you, Seamus and Dean already worked on it and I'm guessing you guys just finished too."

Darcy blushed a bit because she hadn't thought to invite him, "Umm.. Yeah, actually we did. But I can still help you out."

Neville looked at her with a mixture of displeasure and confusion, "No, that's okay... It's getting late and you look tired anyway."

Darcy looked shocked, "Excuse me? That's rather insulting to say I look tired."

Neville raised an eyebrow, "It is? I just had your well being in mind.. I don't see how-"

She sighed and looked at him with distress, "Look, if you don't want my help, then fine. I guess I will go to bed."

Neville looked a little bit hurt, "Yeah... yeah, you should probably go to bed."

Darcy crossed her arms and started stomping off, she looked back at hi after getting her stuff and he had gone back to the paper. She sighed and went to her dorm where Parvati and Lavender were waiting to make fun of her. Darcy stopped them short, telling them she had a feeling she would start hanging out with Neville less and soon Parvati and Lavender's teasing ceased.

* * *

Apart from hanging out with Seamus and Dean, Darcy also started to take even more of a liking to Fred and George.

In the common room one evening, apparently after quidditch practice, Fred and George were laughing about something having to do with Ron. Darcy noticed that the trio of troublemakers weren't in the common room at that time. Darcy went to the twins to listen.

"Well, that git Malfoy had called Granger a bad name," Fred was saying.

"One that we won't say because the younger lot," George intervened.

Fred continued, "And Ron got mad at him so he used that bloody awful broken wand of his to hex Malfoy."

George picked up with a slight giggle, "Unfortunately for him, the wand backfired and he hexed himself."

Fred's face contorted to something still amused but slightly disgusted, "He just started spitting out slugs and didn't stop. Poor bloke."

The small group listening to them groaned and "yuck"ed. Darcy remained silent but worried about her missing classmates. Surely they can't be doing anything wrong when Ron is sick like that.

The group listening dispersed and Darcy went to talk to the twins.

"Oh, if it isn't Diggory," George said.

Darcy rolled her eyes at him, "Do you know where they are now?"

"Who? Ron, Potter, and Granger? No... Why?"

"Because, I don't want them to make us lose anymore house points. They are always getting in trouble."

George laughed, "Oh yeah I forgot that you were jealous that they're always running about with each other."

Darcy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "I'm not jealous... Don't _you_ care about house points?"

Fred and George both roared with laughter. She took that as a no and dropped her arms.

Fred looked around the common room then back at Darcy, "Say, where's your boyfriend? I haven't seen you with him very much lately. Are you two still together?"

Darcy looked at him with confusion, "What boyfriend? I've never had one."

George spoke up, "Longbottom, isn't it?"

"Oh," Darcy looked down and couldn't decide if she were mad at the teasing or upset that she and Neville weren't talking very much. "We weren't a couple. And we are sort of fighting right now."

Fred and George didn't seem very interested that they were fighting, but perked up when she said they weren't a couple. George said, "Well, that must be a bummer for him, Diggory. You are actually kind of cool."

Darcy blushed and Fred took over, "You're brother's cool in Hufflepuff, too, isn't he?"

She nodded. He continued, "And he's on the quidditch team. Are you any good at quidditch?"

"I like watching it, but I'm rubbish at the sport myself. Cedric has tried helping me before but I can't do a thing to save my life."

They nodded. Just then Darcy noticed Hermione come in and she seemed very sad. Darcy looked at the twins and asked in a very hushed voice, "Didn't you say Malfoy called Hermione something earlier? What did he say?"

George leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "Mudblood."

Darcy gasped in shock, "What a foul boy, that Malfoy."

The twins nodded. Darcy wondered if she should try to talk to Hermione. She didn't see Harry or Ron with her or anywhere around. She decided that she would pretend she didn't know about what Malfoy had said.

"I better go talk to her," Darcy said.

George said, "Alright, but maybe sometime we could try to teach you a little about quidditch."

Darcy raised an eyebrow at him and he winked at her. She blushed and said, "Maybe.. Anyway. I'll see you two around."

Fred said, "Later, Diggory."

Hermione was sitting in a corner by herself, reading. Darcy said, "Hey, Hermione. Where's Ron and Harry?"

She looked up from her book that didn't seem to have actually taken her attention at all and replied, "They're serving detention for the whole Whomping Willow-car crashing thing from the beginning of the year."

Darcy nodded, "I see... Do you mind if I sit with you?"

Hermione looked at the vacant spot in a chair next to her, "Sure."

"You seem down. Is something wrong?" Darcy asked as sensitively as she could.

Hermione looked at the book she had in her hands and seemed very sad indeed, "Well, Malfoy called me a vile name. I didn't even know that could be an insult."

Darcy didn't prod, "Oh, what a prat. I swear that Malfoy probably thinks he's so high and mighty to be a Slytherin."

Hermione still wasn't making eye contact and seemed on the verge of tears, but nonetheless nodded to Darcy's insult. Darcy got up and Hermione looked at her with confused and upset eyes.

Darcy said, "Let's go upstairs and away from other people so we can talk in private."

Hermione pursed her lips, nodded and closed her book. They went upstairs to their dorm, which was empty, and both of the girls sat on Hermione's bed. Hermione didn't really wait to cry, it seemed she'd been holding it in for a while. Darcy didn't say anything but hugged her and let her cry for a moment.

Hermione said, "He called me a mudblood," into Darcy shoulder. "I didn't know what it was until Ron told me."

Darcy patted Hermione's back and said with a slight smile, "I heard Ron tried hexing Malfoy with a broken wand and hexed himself instead."

Hermione didn't laugh but she wasn't crying as hard. She pulled away from the hug and wiped her eyes, "Yeah, he was barfing up slugs."

Darcy laughed, "What a _brave_ boy."

Hermione had a hint of a smile, but still tried defending him, "He was very brave. He stood up for me."

Darcy looked at Hermione with a teasing smile and narrow eyes, "_Oooo~_ I think someone liiiikes you." Darcy poked Hermione playfully.

Hermione blushed and pushed Darcy's pokes away, "He does not like me... Does he?"

Darcy shrugged and smirk, "I don't know."

Hermione seemed to have forgotten why she was upset and smirked back at Darcy, "Well,_ I_ know someone who likes _you, _Darcy."

Afraid of who she was going to say, but not wanting to ruin Hermione's change of mood, she decided to play along, "Oh yeah? Who?"

Hermione giggled, "He told me not to tell you."

Darcy blushed, because Hermione might be serious, "Did someone really tell you that he likes me?"

Hermione smirked the same way Darcy did earlier and shrugged, "I don't know."

Darcy groaned and pushed Hermione slightly, "Oh stop making things up."

Hermione giggled and said, "Hey! I'm not lying. A friend did tell me he likes you. It's probably not who you think it is, though."

Darcy raised her eyebrows and blushed again, "And you won't tell me who?"

Hermione seemed like she had been dying to tell Darcy this for a long time, "I'll tell you but he can't know I told you."

Darcy nodded, "I won't make it obvious, don't worry."

Hermione looked around the empty room and leaned toward Darcy, speaking in a low tone, "It's Harry."


	11. Book 2: Chapter 3: Secrets and Chambers

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

**Author's Note: Anyone who may be worried about this surprise Harry/Darcy pairing, don't worry. Nothing major will come from it. Also, cliffhangers will never be left for more than 3 days without updating.**

Darcy was flabbergasted, her eyes grew very wide. She whispered, "Not Harry _Potter_."

Hermione nodded her head, but then her eyebrows stitched together in worry, "Oh, **please **don't tell him I told you! Or anyone! He'll never forgive me for telling you!"

Darcy was so confused, but told Hermione, "I won't tell anyone, don't sweat it. His secret is safe with me... I just don't understand. I barely ever talk to Harry.."

Hermione looked sheepish, "Yeah, well I mean you talk to me a lot and I talk about you to him. He also thinks you're cute."

Darcy blushed, "You talk about me?"

Hermione looked away, "Yeah... Well, I tell him mostly about how funny and nice you are. I guess that's a little weird telling you."

Darcy smiled, "Oh, it's not weird! It's flattering. You know, I talk about how smart and cool you are sometimes."

Hermione blushed, "Do you really?"

Darcy grinned, "Yep! And it's not weird that I told you is it?"

Hermione smiled slightly and then Lavender and Parvati came in. When Darcy looked at the time, it was pretty late. She showered and went to bed. She still didn't understand why Harry liked her and she had no idea how she felt about him, but she thought she might give him a chance.

Every time Darcy considered talking to Harry, Hermione would make up some excuse for Darcy's presence. Hermione would say, "Oh hey Darcy, I've finished the book you gave me last week. I'll give it back to you later" or some other reason that would imply that Darcy wanted to talk Hermione and not Harry. When Darcy later asked about it, Hermione explained that it would be weird if Darcy suddenly started talking to Harry. Darcy retorted that the only thing weird is that Hermione kept pushing her away. Hermione was stubborn, though and asked Darcy not to go out of her way to talk to Harry anymore. Darcy agreed and thought that maybe she could talk to him on Halloween. She could tell him Happy Halloween and maybe offer him candy or something.

* * *

On Halloween, Hermione, Ron and Harry weren't there for the feast. She asked around and nobody knew where they were. She sat next to Neville instead of going with her plan to have sat next to Harry. Ever since that one night, things were always a little tense around Neville. She didn't know if he were mad at her and even though he had insulted her, she wasn't mad at him.

"Neville," she said quietly to him while they were eating, "I don't see Hermione, Harry, or Ron anywhere. You don't think they're getting into more trouble, do you?"

Neville looked around the table for them, "I sure hope not," he said after deciding they weren't there. "I have noticed that Harry's been acting a bit weird lately, though."

Darcy blushed, hoping it wasn't because of her. Surely he didn't like her _that_ much, "Oh, well, I don't know him very well, so I haven't noticed. Hermione hasn't been acting out of the ordinary, though."

Neville shrugged, "I just hope they don't do anything to get themselves into trouble again."

They finished dinner and it was time to go back to their dorms. When they got to the halls, the crowd suddenly stopped and there was a lot of quick whispering. Darcy couldn't make out what anyone was saying, so she and Neville pushed through the crowd to see that Mr. Filch's cat was hanging rigidly by her tail, the troublesome trio standing in the middle of the hallway, and written on the wall (with what looked like blood) was, "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware."

It was a lot to take in and Neville leaned to ask Darcy, barely above a whisper, "You don't think the cat is...dead?"

Darcy shook her head silently and shrugged her shoulders. Just then, the putrid Malfoy shouted, "Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, mudbloods!"

Mr. Filch made his way through the crowd and started accusing Harry of killing his cat. Dumbledore showed up quickly, though to take the trio of students, Mr. Filch, and Mrs. Norris somewhere else. Just before Harry turned around to leave, he and Darcy locked eyes.

After a while, Hermione, Harry, and Ron came back to the common room. Students crowded them asking what happened, but Darcy stayed seated in front of the fireplace consumed in her Transfiguration book. She turned around to see what everyone's attention was on. She couldn't see her classmates through everyone crowding them, but figured that she knew who it was. She went back to reading her book and suddenly heard Harry shouting, "I didn't do it okay? Just back off."

The room went silent and Darcy turned around again, peering over the back of the couch. She saw Harry stomping upstairs with Ron following suit. Hermione looked around, caught Darcy's eye and motioned for her to come with. Darcy obeyed Hermione's summon and accompanied her to their dorm. When they entered, Lavender and Parvati were in there and Darcy was afraid that Hermione wouldn't tell her anything with those two around. However, Hermione spilled without a care to who's listening.

"I know you guys are all wondering," Hermione started, "but we didn't_ touch_ Filch's cat. She was like that when we got there. You see, we went to Sir Nicholas's deathday party and when we were coming back to the feast, we saw what happened and then everyone else showed up."

Lavender asked, "What's a deathday party?"

Hermione looked a bit disgusted, "It's like a birthday party, but instead of celebrating the day you're born, ghosts celebrate the day they died."

Darcy said, "Oh." Lavender nodded. Parvati just seemed grossed out. Hermione concluded, "So, just know that we didn't do anything."

Darcy said, "I believe you, Hermione. But what do you think it means? What is the _Chamber of Secrets_?"

Hermione shrugged, "I really don't know. I think I'll ask Professor Binns in History of Magic tomorrow."

The other girls agree and then, with nothing else to say, they go to sleep.

The next day, Hermione does as she said she would and asks Professor Binns what the Chamber of Secrets is. He's hesitant but ends up telling the class about how Hogwarts was made to bring together all magical people so that they could live peacefully and learn magic. He explained how Salazar Slytherin didn't want people who weren't born of pure magical blood to be in the school at all and that the muggleborns and half-bloods didn't deserve to be at Hogwarts. The other founders disagreed with him, obviously, but it's said that Slytherin had made a secret chamber where he's hidden a monster that will kill all those who aren't pure-blood, a monster that can only be controlled by his heir. The class, of course, tried asking more questions but failed to get more answers as Professor Binns continued his original lesson plan.

Hermione didn't really talk to Darcy much after that class and runs off with Harry and Ron as usual. Darcy hoped they wouldn't get themselves into trouble again, but proceeded to talk to Seamus and Dean about the chamber. Seamus seemed to think that Harry **did** have something to do with it, but Dean disagreed with him. Darcy intervened at this part of their conversation.

"I agree with Dean, Seamus. I don't think Harry has anything to with this. He can't be the heir of Slytherin if he's in Gryffindor," Darcy said.

"Well, funny you say that, Diggory. Don't you remember that the Sorting Hat _wanted_ to put Potter in Slytherin. I don't know. He's always been tied with bad things. You, yourself, are always saying how he, Granger, and Weasley are always getting in trouble," Seamus protested.

Darcy didn't take note that the Sorting Hat wanted Harry in Slytherin, but she did remember how it said he would be great if he was in Slytherin. She didn't know what to say back to that and there was nothing she could say to defend that she thought they got into trouble a lot, because that was true. Dean was quiet too, until Darcy said, "Whether or not the Sorting Hat 'wanted' him in Slytherin isn't the point. He's not **in **Slytherin and he's our friend, Seamus."

Seamus scoffed and didn't say anything else about the matter and conversation went on as usual.


	12. Book 2: Chapter 4: Harry

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

The next week or so, everything was normal. As always, Darcy spent half her time doing homework and the other half conversing with friends. With Seamus and Dean it was about the Chamber of Secrets, with Fred and George it could have been about anything that usually ended up with her laughing, with Lavender and Parvati it was about Lockhart or something girly, and with Neville it was mostly just about work if anything. She tried talking to Hermione while she was with Ron and Harry, but they were very unapproachable. They were always having hushed conversations and would run off to go to "the library". She said once that she could just go with them to the library but they would usually look at each other and come with an excuse to why Darcy shouldn't go with them. Darcy would always catch Harry's eye, but she still never got the chance to talk to him.

It was the morning of the Gryffindor/Slytherin game. The first game of the season. Darcy wished Harry luck the night before and hoped that it would be a good game.

She sat with Seamus, Dean, and Neville. Hermione and Ron were sitting together a little ways away. The game started soon enough and Harry seemed to be trailed by a bludger. Darcy watched as Harry dodged it over and over. Draco Malfoy stopped Harry at one point to taunt him but it seemed like Harry spotted the snitch, because he started flying quickly in a direction behind Malfoy. They went out of sight and the bludger followed closely after them. Darcy observed the field to see what else was happening in the game. Nobody had scored any points and Slytherin players were being very dirty with their plays.

Harry emerged back into view and had his hand outstretched. The rogue bludger that had been chasing him whacked him right in the arm and Harry clenched it into his body. He didn't spend much time on it and stretched out his other arm. He caught the snitch and won the game for Gryffindor but lost his balance and landed roughly on the ground. As soon as the game ended, Ron and Hermione started running to the field. Darcy followed and caught up with them.

When they got to Harry, the bludger was still attacking him and Hermione used Finite Incantatem to destroy it. As Hermione did this, Darcy knelt next to Harry who was beginning to sit up, clutching his arm.

"Are you okay?" Darcy asked.

"No," Harry replied, "I think I broke my arm."

Everyone else had rushed toward Harry. Professor Lockhart tried (against Harry's will) to repair his arm but instead removed all bones from it. He was taken to the hospital wing accompanied by his classmates, including Darcy. Madam Pomfrey was fuming with anger when he arrived. She told Harry that it would be extremely painful to grow back his bones. The crowd was instructed to leave and Darcy had trailed behind everyone else.

"I hope you get well soon, Harry," she told him.

"Me too," he said back and gave her a small smile.

She walked out with the rest of the crowd and looked back before she turned the corner. Harry was looking at her so they exchanged waves good bye.

Back in the common room, everyone was talking about the game. Fred and George talked about how they wanted to help Harry out with the bludger but he had told them not to. The Gryffindors had their usual celebration with fire whiskey, music, and candy but Darcy didn't feel like celebrating much, so she just went up to bed, worrying about Harry.

She woke up early the next morning to greet Harry with some pumpkin pasties. She went to the hospital wing and caught him as Madam Pomfrey was releasing him. She saw that in another bed there was a first year boy from Gryffindor that had followed Harry around everywhere. He looked as solid as stone and when Madam Pomfrey saw Darcy looking, she shut the curtains from around the boy.

Darcy looked at Harry, horrorstruck. She had forgotten why she came to the hospital wing until Harry brought her attention back to reality.

"Good morning, Darcy," Harry said. He pointed to the pumpkin pasties she was holding and asked, "Are these for me?"

Darcy shook her head and looked at the sweets in her hand then back to Harry, "Oh... Yeah, they are. Do you feel better?"

She handed him the pasties and Harry started walking out, gesturing for Darcy to follow, "Yeah, I feel loads better. It was pretty grim to regrow my bones, but my arm works fine now."

Harry held out his arm and moved his wrist around. He unwrapped one of the two pasties she gave him and took a bite. Darcy said, "They still celebrated the win last night, so I thought I'd grab something for you since you're the one who won the game."

Harry swallowed, wiped his mouth and said, "Thanks. Are Ron and Hermione awake yet?"

Darcy thought for a moment and remembered that Hermione was still asleep when she left, "No. I don't think they are."

Harry nodded, "I didn't think so either, Ron never wakes up early unless he has to."

Darcy giggled a bit, recalling how grumpy Ron can be in class in the mornings. She watched Harry take another bite and wondered if she should have brought him a drink of milk or something to wash it down with. She asked him if he wanted a drink and he replied that he kind of did.

Darcy suggested, "Why don't we go eat breakfast, then. I am a bit hungry. We can pass the time until Hermione and Ron wake up."

Harry agreed and they set off to the Great Hall. When they arrived, there were only a few people in there. It seemed that not many people wanted to be awake early on a Sunday morning. Harry and Darcy sat down next to each other and Harry got a glass of milk and some porridge. Darcy also got porridge and milk and they ate away.

Darcy couldn't take her mind off of that first year boy, so she asked, "Harry, who was the boy that was frozen in the hospital wing? Didn't he follow you around everywhere?"

Harry looked a little troubled, "Uhh, yeah. His name is Colin Creevey. It's his first year."

Darcy nodded, "I knew he was a first year, I just didn't know his name. Colin Creevey, huh? What do you think's wrong with him?"

"Well, I heard Madam Pomfrey say that he's petrified."

Darcy's eyebrows shot up and she covered her mouth with hand. She bit her lip, "Wasn't Filch's cat also..."

Harry nodded. Darcy looked concerned and then finished her milk. She looked at the time. It was around 9 o'clock. She told Harry, "I think that Ron and Hermione should be awake by now if you want to go look for them. I'm glad you're alright."

Harry smiled at her, "Thanks for the pumpkin pasties, Darcy." He got up and started to leave, "I'll see you around."

Darcy smiled back but remained seated because she hadn't finished her porridge, "See you."

After he left, she finished her breakfast and then went back to Gryffindor tower where people had already heard about Colin. She spotted Neville and went to him.

"Hey, Nev," she greeted.

Neville looked deeply frightened, "Hey, Darcy."

"So you've heard about Colin, I take it?"

"Yeah... Actually, I've heard a bit more than just that Colin is petrified," Neville informed her.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Well," he spoke in a whisper to her, "I heard that he's a muggleborn. That must mean that the monster from the Chamber of Secrets is lose."

Darcy took in what Neville had said and processed it. Maybe he was right. Darcy was frightened for a moment but then remembered that both she and Neville were of pure wizard blood. She pointed this out to him and added, "There's no way the monster could do anything to us if it only attacks muggleborns. Why are you worried?"

Neville looked down and said sheepishly, "W-Well, it's just that... I'm the worst wizard ever. Even my family thought I was a squib until I was 10. Just to be safe, I think I'll start to carry around protective charms."

Darcy put a hand on his shoulder, "Neville, you're not a squib. If you want to carry protective charms, then fine, but you have nothing to worry about."

Neville looked away and mumbled, "Easy for you to say."

Darcy scoffed and then realised that that was the first real conversation they've had in a while. She looked at her round-faced best friend and couldn't help but miss him. What does it matter if Lavender and Parvati make fun of her? She really cared for him and she didn't want other's pestering to stop her from being with her best friend anymore. She hugged him and he seemed taken off guard, but hugged back.

"Neville, I've missed you," she said as she drew back and held his shoulders.

Neville looked confused, but seemed to understand, "I-I-I've missed you, too, Darcy."

She looked him in the eye, "You may be a bad wizard right now, but it's only your second year at Hogwarts. You've got plenty to learn." She dropped her hands from him and looked away for a moment before returning to his green eyes again, "You're probably going to be amazing."

Darcy smiled at him and he gave her a slight smile in return. A few moments passed and then he said, "I'm still going to keep my protective charms."

Darcy giggled and hugged him again, "Whatever makes you happy."

* * *

In potions, someone had thrown a firecracker into a cauldron. Darcy didn't see who did it, but Snape seemed to think it was Harry. Darcy didn't know who it was but couldn't help but snigger at the swollen faces of the Slytherins. Draco Malfoy asked in a derogatory tone, "What are you laughing at, Diggory?"

Darcy looked surprised for a second, but then constructed an indifferent expression and shrugged, "I'm not laughing."

Draco narrowed his eyes on his swollen face at her and she wanted to laugh desperately, "Sure you're not."

Darcy raised a disgusted eyebrow at him and said nothing else. He went back to talking to his friends and Darcy and Neville exchanged amused looks.

She and Neville start spending more time together again and Darcy confided in him that she thinks she might like Harry a little. He's quiet about it at first, but tells Darcy that she should try to talk to Harry more often. Darcy agreed and tried to talk to Harry but ended up not ever getting a chance to because the three troublemakers were always running about. Every now and then she would catch his eye and smile at him or they would say "good morning/afternoon/evening" or exchange "hello"s but that was the extent of the conversations that they had.

The next week, there was talk about a student dueling club. She told Neville they should do it to learn to duel but Neville passed. Instead, she went with Seamus and Dean to the meeting and saw Harry there. Professor Lockhart and Professor Snape instructed them and picked their partners. Harry was with Draco Malfoy and Darcy got paired with a Hufflepuff named Hannah Abbott. Everything was going fine until Harry started talking to a snake that Draco had conjured up. Harry wasn't just talking to the snake, he was sort of hissing to it.

There was a lot of talk behind Harry's back about him being the heir to Slytherin, but Darcy didn't believe it.

* * *

The next couple days were eventful. A boy from Hufflepuff named Justin Finch-Fletchley and Sir Nicholas have been petrified and Harry was found at the scene of it all. Of course, this didn't help Harry's case and most people were determined that Harry was the heir.

Darcy caught Harry one night in the library. She asked if she could talk to him. He seemed angry about it but accepted and they went, out of the library to a corridor and against the wall.

"I'm not the heir of Slytherin, okay? So don't ask," Harry stated aggressively.

Darcy was taken aback, "That's not what I was going to ask."

Harry relaxed, "Oh," he looked embarrassed, "Sorry."

Darcy wiped it away, "It's okay. I'm guessing a lot of people have been rude to you, so I understand. I was just going to tell you that... I don't think you're the heir."

Harry looked a bit relieved, "Thanks. It really means a lot, Darcy."

Darcy smiled and pulled up all the courage she could to say the next thing, she wrung her hands and couldn't look him in the eye, "I um also wanted to tell you that.. I think you're actually really cool."

Harry looked surprised, "Oh! Uhh.. Thanks. Again."

Darcy had planned this in her head and she didn't know why she was so nervous. She scratched the back of her head and looked at the ceiling, "I also just wanted to tell you that I think I might like you."

She closed her eyes hard and then looked away. She couldn't stand to stay there and she ended up running away.

Darcy rushed to the common room and immediately found Neville. She was blushing and Neville looked at her wide-eyed. He wondered what was her problem but then took a guess, "Harry?"

Darcy nodded, breathing heavily. She leaned her back on the wall and slid down it until she was sitting with her knees to her chest and put her head in her knees. She wished she could just disappear. What was she thinking?

Neville patted her shoulder reassuringly. She looked up at him and gave him a pathetic smile.

Harry walked in and began looking for Darcy. Neville told her that Harry walked in and she nodded. He helped her up and she waved at Harry. Neville gave her a reassuring nod and left. Harry came to her and Darcy could tell he had bad news for her. She looked down and he began, "Look Darcy, I liked you at the beginning of the year and I think that I might still like you if it weren't for..."

Darcy looked at him, tears threatening to sting her eyes. He looked away this time and continued, "I just have a lot on my mind lately and I can't really think about liking someone right now."

A tear fell down Darcy's cheek and she looked down. She nodded and said in a shaky voice, "I understand."

Harry hugged her and said, "I'm sorry, Darcy. Really."

Darcy hugged back and let a few more tears fall onto Harry's shoulder. She pulled away, wiped her eyes, apologized for getting his shirt wet, said good night, and went up to her dorm where she cried in her fourposter. She shut the curtains so nobody would bother her and ended up crying herself to sleep.


	13. Book 2: Chapter 5: Catsmas and Valentine

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

**Author's Note: Thanks to Sarah for reviewing, it means a lot to receive feedback from my readers!**

It took a couple days of being quiet and staying away from most people after confessing to Harry for Darcy to return back to normal. She remained by Neville's side throughout those days and she briefly talked to Fred and George. They asked her what was wrong and she didn't tell them.

"Aww," George said, "are you scared, little Diggory? Afraid the big bad monster is going to…" Fred had snuck up behind her and pounced on her as he finished, "**petrify** you?"

Darcy jumped and let out a little scream of surprise. She slapped Fred on the arm, "FRED! No, I'm not scared. Why did you do that?"

Fred laughed, "To cheer you up, of course."

Darcy smiled and rolled her eyes, "Oh, please. You guys just wanted to scare me."

George chuckled, "Yeah, that too."

It was true, they did help cheer her up and after she was done moping, she was fully back to normal. Christmas break was coming up and she was excited to go home. She had barely gotten to see her brother with everything going on. She only briefly saw him at meals for him to tell her to be safe and that he loved her.

She decided that on the train ride back home, she would find him and sit with him instead of her friends.

She and her brother spent the ride catching up with each other and when they get home, they are welcomed by their parents' open arms. Their parents inform them that they know what's going on at school and are very concerned.

They express their concern through the Christmas gifts received, Darcy gets a white kitten with a red bow around its neck. The kitten is a girl and Darcy named her Marie. The bow is enchanted and will provide a certain amount of protection for Darcy. Her dad tells her to carry the cat with her everywhere. In order to do this, she also receives a large pink rucksack that is magically part cat den on the inside. Her parents give Cedric an enchanted necklace which he's instructed to wear at all times. Both of the children feel overly protected but Darcy is happy about her new companion.

She goes to Neville's on the last day of break like the previous year and plans to return to school with him the next day. She goes with her new rucksack and Marie. Neville and Marie love each other immediately. Neville even asked his gran for his own kitten. To which she reminded him that he had a toad.

* * *

They returned to Hogwarts the next day and Darcy finds Hermione in the hospital wing, looking like a cat. Darcy asked Hermione what happened while visiting her alone one day.

"Well, to tell you the truth, Darcy," Hermione said quietly, "I was experimenting with polyjuice potion and accidentally drank some with cat hair in it."

Hermione looked embarrassed and Darcy wanted to cheer her up, "Well, you don't look as much like a cat as something I got for Christmas."

Hermione looked perplexedly at Darcy, "What did you get?"

Darcy pulled Marie out of the rucksack and showed her to Hermione, "This is Marie. You see the bow around her neck? It's supposed to help keep me out of harm. My parents are worried because of the Chamber and everything."

Hermione nodded, "She is quite cute, Darcy. I'll be glad to play with her when I'm not like this."

Darcy smiled, "Hey, but like I said, she looks more like a cat than you do. But you do make a cuter cat than she does anyway."

Hermione laughed, "Okay, whatever you say."

Darcy looked at the time and she remembered that she promised Seamus she'd meet him and Dean to do homework. She told this to Hermione and pet her as she left as a joke. Hermione smiled and Darcy left.

* * *

Things were pretty quiet at school for a couple months. Nobody was attacked for a while and the Mandrakes they were raising in Herbology were getting closer to being able to make an elixir to heal the petrified. Neville started taking more of an interest in Herbology and told Darcy that he began to think it was his favourite subject.

One day, Neville, Seamus, Dean, and Darcy were all doing homework in the Great Hall which Professor Lockhart had decorated in all pink.

Seamus looked around confused, "Say, why is the Great Hall so pink anyway?"

Darcy scoffed and raised her eyebrows at him, "Seamus, you **can't** be serious."

The look on his face told the group that he was indeed serious and very lost.

Dean shook his head in disbelief, "It's Valentine's Day, Seamus."

A look of understanding flooded over his face as he said, "Oooooh."

Darcy shook her head in amazement and rolled her eyes at her clueless friend. Just then, dwarves entered, lots of them, handing out Valentines and singing to different people. One in particular bumped into Harry, making him spill all of his things as the dwarf sang a valentine to him. A lot of people laughed at Harry's misfortune and Darcy wondered who could have sent it. She looked around and noticed an extremely tomato-faced red head girl. She knew who she was. It's Ginny Weasley. She'd seen George and Fred talk to her before and heard that Ginny had a crush on Harry from Hermione.

A little twang of hurt stung Darcy at the thought of Harry, but she didn't give it much thought as a dwarf arrived, singing a tune to Darcy. It sang:

"Diggory, you are so young,

You can also smell like dung,

But you are funny sometimes,

So we sent you a little rhyme!"

The boys around her laughed, but Darcy said, "Hey! I do not smell like dung!"

Neville asked, "Who do you think sent it?"

Darcy looked around to find George and Fred leaning against the wall laughing, she told Neville, "I know exactly who sent it." She stood up and rolled her sleeves up, "And I know exactly who's going to be slapped."

The boys "ooo"ed like someone had gotten into major trouble as Darcy started walking towards the mischievous two. She reached them and put her hands on her hips, "I do **not** smell like dung, thank you."

Fred laughed and George acted sad. George said with an unconvincing frown, "You didn't like it? We worked really hard on it."

Darcy slackened her expression as if to say, 'really?'

Fred spoke up, "Oh, hush, we just thought we'd send you something. Compared to the others we sent, yours was actually nice. We said you're funny."

Darcy rolled her eyes and asked, "You sent others?"

George stopped pretending to be sad and laughed, "Well, we sent one to Ron and one to Percy."

Fred added, "And also one to a girl on the quidditch team named Angelina Johnson. She's gorgeous."

Darcy raised her eyebrows, pursed her lips and nodded even though she didn't care about Angelina Johnson. But she still asked, "And did you send a nice one to her?"

Fred looked up and deliberated a moment, "I wouldn't say…..nice."

George nudged Fred and snickered.

Darcy looked alarmed and held her hand up, "On second thought, I don't want to know. I just wanted to make sure you two know that I **don't** smell like dung."

George rolled his eyes, but put an arm on Darcy's shoulder, "Yes, precious, we **know** you don't smell like dung." He took his hand off her shoulder and shrugged, "We just couldn't think of anything else that rhymed."

Darcy blushed a bit from George getting so close, but kept up her determined look, "Okay, well, that's all." She looked to two of them up and down, "Bye."

Darcy was walking away and Fred laughed and said, "Bye… _precious_."

**Author's Note (again): If you'd like to see a larger image of the cover, here is a link: (dreamself . me / d / kCHO) Just take out the spaces. Sorry if it doesn't work for mobile users! :(**

**It is sort of more on the Year 3 look I imagined for her because of the ponytail, but it is where I got the idea for the rucksack in this chapter. I use this site for my character's designs about 98% of the time, so there will be more links in the future. It stinks that I can't make them clickable, but I guess they aren't necessary. Just if you're interested, there it is! Thanks!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the website or the image, I only created it by use of the website.**


	14. Book 2: Chapter 6: Hermione and Marie

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

For a while, things seemed to be normal around the school. Well, aside from there being two petrified students, a petrified ghost, and a petrified cat in the hospital wing. The second years were instructed to start choosing courses for the following year. All of Darcy's classmates were fretting over what classes they should take. Neville got letters from all his relatives with advice, Percy Weasley (the Gryffindor prefect) gave advice to anyone who would listen, Hermione signed up for literally everything, but Darcy just thought about what she wanted to do when she was older.

When she was younger, she always said she wanted to work for the Ministry of Magic like her dad, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to work with Magical Creatures like him or not. Just to make her dad happy, she chose to take the Care of Magical Creatures class that was offered and she and Neville deliberated over other classes. Darcy decided to take Arithmancy and Neville settled on Divination which was scheduled at the same time.

Other than planning for classes, Darcy's kitten Marie wanted to start spending more time being pampered. Hermione gladly indulged the feline and then started going on about how she wanted her own cat.

Classes were going well and soon the next quidditch game was coming up. It was Hufflepuff vs Gryffindor. That meant that Cedric would be playing against Harry. Darcy's feelings towards Harry weren't hateful after he broke her heart. In fact, she tried her best to act as if nothing happened and still be friendly with him. She was just excited to see how everything would play out.

* * *

It was game day and Hermione, Harry, and Ron were all talking at breakfast. Suddenly Hermione got up and ran away. Darcy noticed and went to the two boys.

"You didn't say anything mean to her did you?" Darcy demanded at them.

They looked very confused and looked from each other to Darcy. Ron spoke, "We didn't," he said sort of hysterically. "Honestly! We didn't say anything mean. She just ran away! ..Please don't hurt us!"

Darcy's expression lightened and she looked at Ron with a somber face, "I.. Well, I wasn't going to hurt you. I've never hurt anyone that I can remember. It's just that, well, I wanted to make sure my friend is okay."

Ron looked down in embarrassment, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to accuse you of anything like that. You just asked us and it was kind of scary."

Darcy scratched her head, "Yeah, sorry about that. I was just worried about my friend is all."

Ron nodded. Darcy said, "Well, alright. Good luck, Harry. I'll see you boys later."

They semi-smiled at her, Harry thanked her and she returned to Neville. He was petting Marie, who was laying in his lap under the table.

"What's the matter?" Neville asked.

She sat down next to him with her back against the table and shrugged, "Nothing, I don't think. They didn't say anything mean to her so I don't know why she ran out like that. Harry was acting a bit weird though."

Neville nodded, "I think I know what you mean. He's been acting weird for a while now. It's like he's distracted by something."

Darcy took her cat and sat there while Neville finished his breakfast. She was petting Marie, getting lost in her thoughts, and then everyone started getting up to head to the quidditch pitch for the game. Darcy picked Marie up and started following the crowd. She and Neville had just gotten out the doors of the castle when Marie started wriggling in Darcy arms.

"Woah, Marie," Darcy said as she fought with the cat.

Darcy stopped and Neville stopped with her, "What is it?"

"Marie, stop fighting with me. We're just going to a quidditch game," she argued with the cat.

Neville asked, "What do you think is wrong with her?"

Darcy said, "I don't think I've brought her outside very much. I mean, I have a couple times. Or maybe she doesn't like the crowd."

Just then the cat scratched a cut across Darcy's nose, knocking her glasses off.

Neville quickly picked up her glasses and Marie ran off.

"Ouch!" Darcy said as she put a hand to her nose, "She's never hurt me before.. I wonder what's wrong with her."

Neville handed her her glasses and she put them on. He said, "I don't know, but I think you should go to Madam Pomfrey to fix that first. It looks pretty bad."

Darcy lowered her hand and looked at it. It was covered in more blood than she expected so she nodded to Neville and they started toward the hospital wing. They made it safely and Madam Pomfrey patched her nose within a few seconds with no scar left behind.

"Thank you, ma'am," Darcy said.

Madam Pomfrey smiled and said, "You're welcome, darling. Just wait right here for a couple minutes to make sure you're okay then you can go to the game."

Darcy smiled back and Madame Pomfrey left her and Neville who had been awkwardly sitting next to her the whole time.

Neville looked out the window and said, "It doesn't look like they've started yet."

Darcy spoke in a whisper, "Yeah, but we still need to find Marie, remember?"

Neville said under his breath, "Ooohh," and nodded.

They waited, then all of a sudden, Professor Sprout came in looking alarmed, "Poppy! There's been two more!"

Madam Pomfrey rushed out and looked back, "You two stay here," she said with slight fear in her voice.

Neville and Darcy looked at each other with surprise. When Madam Pomfrey opened the door, a little white kitten came running in before she shut it.

Darcy got up and met the kitten half way, "Marie!"

Marie was meowing sadly and Darcy went back to her bed. Neville pet the kitten while Darcy was holding her.

Neither of the two said anything and then when Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey came in, they were accompanied by Professors McGonagall, Lockhart, Snape, Flitwick, and Professor Dumbledore. They had two students being floated in and both were unmoving.

Darcy froze when she recognized one to be Hermione. The teachers, whispering frantically, rested the two on beds next to each other. Neville gulped and Marie looked up at Darcy, with her ears down and seemed to be ashamed. Professor Dumbledore spoke loudly, to quiet the bustling teachers.

"Now, I need all teachers to go to the quidditch pitch and gather the students. Heads of houses will show the students back to the dormitories and there, I will provide rules that will be set into action immediately."

He dismissed everyone except Professor McGonagall. He spoke quietly to her and pulled out a mirror from his robes. She took it and looked at it, then set it on the table in between the two girls. She set off outside and then Dumbledore turned to Neville and Darcy, who were sitting there, wide-eyed.

He said to them with a smile, "Are you two well? Why did you come in here?"

Marie had jumped off Darcy's lap and jumped onto Hermione's bed next to her. Darcy was still shocked and when she first tried talking, nothing came out. She cleared her throat and tried again, "Well, sir. My cat scratched my nose pretty badly, so I came here to get it fixed. We were going to go look for her, but I think she was looking for Hermione."

Dumbledore nodded, "Well, I'm sure your cat wouldn't have been able to do anything if she did find Hermione. Do you know what Hermione was doing when she was petrified?"

Darcy shook her head and looked down, not wanting to see Hermione or Dumbledore. Surely one of her best friends couldn't be petrified.

Dumbledore said in a resigning tone, as if he didn't blame her and was done asking questions, "Ah. Well, she was found near the library. And she will be okay soon. Professor Sprout's Mandrakes are almost ready to produce the elixir to awaken our unfortunate friends."

Darcy and Neville nodded and Dumbledore continued, "Now, I want you to stay here. Professor McGonagall will be returning with Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter soon. She will escort you all to the Gryffindor tower."

The two looked at him and nodded. He left and Darcy got up and walked slowly to Hermione. Neville followed and they both stopped by Hermione's bed and examined her. Her body was stone cold and her eyes were glass-like. Marie didn't seem to budge from Hermione's side and seemed to be very sad.

When Ron and Harry came in, they both were as shocked and upset as Darcy and Neville. They all exchanged looks and when Professor McGonagall asked if any of them knew about the mirror, they all shook their heads.

Professor McGonagall escorted the four Gryffindors back to the common room. Marie stayed with Hermione and Darcy didn't protest. When they got in the common room, McGonagall read them all the new rules. Students weren't allowed to leave their common rooms past 6 o'clock, they had to be escorted by teachers everywhere, there was no more activities, and she said that if someone wasn't caught soon, Hogwarts would probably be shut down.

When she left there was a lot of ruckus around the common room. A boy named Lee Jordan was talking about how Slytherins should be kicked out and a lot of people agreed with him. Fred and George were making fun of Percy who seemed to be broken up about Penelope Clearwater, the other girl who was petrified. She was a prefect and Percy seemed to think prefects wouldn't get targeted.

With all the noise and complaining, Darcy couldn't get the image of Hermione out of her head. She just wanted there to be peace and quiet, so she went up to her dorm. Neville saw her going up the stairs and stopped her.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going where I can hear my own thoughts. I might do homework or something in my room."

"Can I join you?" Neville asked.

Darcy shook her head, "Boys aren't allowed in girls' dorms."

Neville looked down, blushing, "Oh. I forgot."

Darcy said thoughtfully, "I think girls can go in boys' dorms, though. So.. I mean, if you don't mind, I'll join you in yours."

Neville smiled and ran in front of her, leading the way to his dorm. She stopped him before they went in, "I need to go get my homework... Be right back!"

She went to get it and came back quickly. He was waiting for her and she felt weird.

"I've never been in a boy's room before," she confessed, blushing. "Not even my brother's."

Neville looked around, "Yeah, I guess you never went in my room either. " He scratched his head, "S-sorry about the mess. It's just that Ron.." He gestured to a bed that was more messy than the rest.

Darcy nodded and said, "I get it. You guys are boys. Umm... Where should I sit?"

Neville made his bed and sat at the top of it, "You can sit on the end of my bed."

Darcy nodded and stepped over the clothes and trash to get to Neville's bed. She sat down and leaned on one of the poles of his fourposter.

Neville got out his books and said, "What are you going to work on?"

Darcy put down all her books except one and some parchment, "I'm going to get our History of Magic homework done."

Neville nodded and got his out too. They were working on it and soon, Darcy got used to her surroundings.

Harry and Ron came in and Darcy turned around so quickly, she lost her balance and fell off of the bed. In the process accidentally spilling ink all over her shirt. Neville exclaimed, "Darcy!" And got down to help her up. As they did this, Harry rushed to his bed and grabbed something, hiding it behind his back. Neither Darcy or Neville seemed to notice, though.

Ron seemed angry, "What's a girl doing here, Neville?!"

Neville was holding Darcy's arm from helping her up and then quickly let go and blushed at Ron's question, "Well, we were just-err- umm, we were just doing homework!"

Ron narrowed his eyes, "Why are you acting so weird then?"

Harry piped up, "Ron, they were probably just doing homework like they said. Let's just leave them alone."

Darcy was blushing and avoided Harry's eyes. Ron seemed reluctant to leave and looked from Darcy to his messy bed, he suddenly seemed embarrassed himself, "Alright, well, I-I'm sorry about my bed. If I had known that-"

Darcy stopped him, "It's okay." She gulped, looking at his bed and noticing a pair of his underpants on the floor. She blushed and looked away, "I-it doesn't bother me."

Ron realised what she saw and shoved it under his bed quickly with a red face, "Anyway, you two better not get in trouble. It doesn't look good for a girl to be in a boy's dorm all alone with him."

Darcy blinked a few times and picked up all of her books, "R-r-right. I should get going to fix my shirt anyway." She began to shuffle out and gave Neville a tiny wave and slight smile, "Thanks, Neville."

Neville protested, "Wait, we weren't finished yet..." He looked between Darcy and Ron, then nodded, "I guess you're right though. Thanks for helping, Darcy."

She smiled and left to her dorm room. She got in the room and sat on her bed. She was still blushing. Ron was right. She shouldn't have been in there with him alone. Hopefully Harry and Ron won't spread anything about it..


	15. Book 2: Chapter 7: End of Hogwarts?

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

Darcy tried to keep her distance from Neville a bit more the following days, talking with Seamus, Dean, Lavender, Parvati, Fred, or George. Professor Dumbledore had been petitioned out of the Headmaster position and everyone was more scared than before. Visitors weren't allowed in the infirmary, so Marie was stuck in there with Hermione. Surely, the cat was being taken care of in there, but Darcy felt so lonely without Hermione or Marie there. Lavender and Parvati sort of clung to each other, so when Darcy did talk to them, she felt shunned.

Professor Lockhart seemed to think that since the keeper of the grounds of Hogwarts, Hagrid, had been arrested, then the school was safe. Harry and Ron protested and Darcy silently agreed with them. She didn't know Hagrid very well, but he didn't seem to be the type to do anything harmful.

Getting herded from class to class, although safe was quite tedious. Darcy hated being so close to people. Sure, she was friends with them all, but she was relatively claustrophobic. Even in the common room she felt claustrophobic. Since the students had to stay in there from 6 o'clock on, most everyone stayed in the common room. After a few days of the nonsense, Darcy suggested to Seamus, Dean, and Neville that the four of them go to the boys' room to do homework and talk. When she first suggested it and made eye contact with Neville, they both blushed, recalling the incident with Harry and Ron, but Seamus and Dean agreed that it would be much quieter up there.

The four started to regularly meet there and almost always, they would get distracted from their work to talk about the Chamber of Secrets, the heir of Slytherin, their petrified friends, or Dumbledore's absence.

Seamus said, "With Dumbledore gone, I'm expecting Hogwarts to close any day now."

Dean agreed, "Even though the teachers escort us around, I still don't feel safe."

Seamus nodded and Darcy asked, "Oh, that's right. You two are both half-blood, right?"

Dean said, "No, I'm a muggle-born. Which makes me even more scared, to be honest."

Darcy said, "Oh," and they continued to converse about the entire situation before Neville intervened telling them that they needed to finish the work.

Neville never wanted to talk about the events and the others respected that.

* * *

Soon, Professor McGonagall, who was acting as Headmaster in place of Dumbledore, told them exams would be upcoming. Everyone seemed distressed because a lot of people had been so busy talking about the Chamber of Secrets they hadn't studied.

Not much goes on in that week. However, once when Professor Lockhart was supposed to be escorting them to class, Harry and Ron make a dash for somewhere. Darcy and Neville exchanged looks but decided to just leave them alone and continue with class.

Later that day, Professor McGonagall informs the student body that they need to pack to go home the following morning because another attack has happened. Darcy hears that it's a girl from Gryffindor named Ginny Weasley. She's sister to the Weasley boys and only a first year. The sight where the first petrification was apparently read on the wall, "Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever."

Darcy packed her bags at the same time as Lavender and Parvati and the two girls were just overwhelmed by fear and sadness. They cried and went on about how they'll miss Hogwarts. Everything just seemed so surreal to Darcy. Hogwarts couldn't be closing! It's… Hogwarts!

She finished packing and went to Neville's room. She found Seamus, Dean, and Neville, all packed and sitting on their beds. They looked at her with worry. She looked around and asked, "Where are Harry and Ron?"

Dean shook his head, looking down and Neville looked at her with a more upset expression. Seamus shrugged, "We don't know."

Darcy looked at Ron's slightly-less-messy-than-usual bed and Harry's clean one. Neither of their fourposters looked like they'd been touched since McGonagall's dreadful announcement.

She nodded, remembering how they stormed off and hoped that they were okay. Darcy changed the subject and stood next to Dean. She put an arm around him and said, "If this is really the end of Hogwarts, I just want you guys to know that you three are my best friends."

Seamus rolled his eyes and smirked, "Oh, don't get soft on us now, Diggory."

She let out a little smile and snickered and said, "I'm serious. I don't know what I'll do without you three. If Hogwarts is really going to be closed forever, we'll have to see each other again!"

Dean said, "That won't be too easy for me, living with muggles and all."

Darcy smiled, "We'll find a way."

Seamus stood up and walked over to Darcy who had let go of Dean. He hugged her and she was surprised. She laughed and hugged him back, saying, "Oh, don't get soft on me now, Finnigan."

Seamus squeezed tight and then backed up, pushing her gently, "Oh, shut up," he said smiling. She pushed him back, then she looked at Neville and sat next to him and slung an arm around his shoulder. He sat there looking sadly at the ground then at Darcy as she talked.

"Now, I _know_ I'll see my best mate still." She looked at Dean and Seamus, "No offense, you two, but Neville's number one."

She squeezed his shoulder and shook him a bit and he couldn't help but smile a bit and let out a small, "Thanks."

Darcy said, "Now, since we're all packed, let's go downstairs and see who we can find to say good-bye to."

Seamus laughed and took Darcy's hand as he pulled her to the door, "I bet we could mess with them, too. Eh, Diggory?"

She giggled, "Yeah, let's have some fun."

They got to the common room and found a lot of people sobbing, and then spotted George and Fred. Darcy took the lead now, Seamus still in hand and went to the twins. She let go of his hand when she approached them. They were sitting against a window sill. She started out by saying, "Oh, hello, boys. Have you packed your things?"

They looked at each other then to her. Fred said, "Yes. We have."

George said, "And we're not in the mood for shenanigans. Our sister is dead."

Seamus said, "Hey, you don't know that. It just said her _skeleton_ will lie in the chamber. Not her."

Darcy said, "Yeah, maybe Lockhart took her bones like he did with Harry and then gave them to the heir of Slytherin."

George and Fred crossed their arms and rolled their eyes. Fred said, "Yeah, but our brother's gone, too. Care to make a joke out of that?"

Darcy's lighthearted expression faltered to a bored one, "Well, fine. I thought you two were the joke masters. I guess you don't want to take this opportunity to make others laugh."

George looked her right in the eye and she blushed. Her entire demeanor changed. She was serious and looked at Seamus. She said in a quiet voice, "Hey, why don't you go ahead and go fool with some people for a bit. I'll be right there."

Seamus looked at the twins and then Darcy, agreed, then left. Darcy turned back to the twins and said, "I'm sorry." She looked down and put her hair behind her ear. She looked at them and continued, "I was just trying to lighten the situation."

They smirked and scoffed. Fred messed up her hair and said, "It's alright. Sorry we're spoil sports. Any other time we would be happy to mess with people."

George said, "It's just really lame that we can't come back here. Even more so that our sister," Fred piped in, "and possible our brother," George continued, "is down there."

Darcy went to them and hugged them, "I'm going to miss you guys!"

George and Fred looked at each other with awkward expressions. Fred shrugged and George hugged her back, followed by Fred.

Darcy said, "Will I see you guys again? I mean, I hope I will! You two are the coolest and funniest guys I know!"

They rolled their eyes again. George pushed her playfully, "Yeah, thanks, kid."

She hugged them again and then proceeded back to find Seamus. She found him with Dean and Neville.

She felt like she could cry but she didn't want to be like Lavender and Parvati. She remembered the two and considered saying good bye to them. She figured she would have time for that tomorrow and then talked to everyone else around the common room. Her mood to fool around was gone because of the twins. She was worried about them and the other Weasleys. How many Weasleys were there anyway? She made a mental note to ask before they part ways the next day.

The four of the second years talked and talked until it was pretty late and then they went to bed.


	16. Book 2: Chapter 8: Party!

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

The next day, when everyone was expecting to go home, there was a surprise feast instead. Dumbledore said that all the exams were cancelled and that the petrified victims were now healthy again. Hermione came in and hugged Ron and Harry, with Marie following behind. She hugged Darcy, too and Marie jumped in Darcy's lap when she sat down.

She found out what happened in the Chamber from a mix of Dumbledore and Harry. He and Ron went down to rescue Ginny. Lockhart tried to erase their minds and ended up erasing his own instead. Harry faced Tom Riddle - the real heir of Slytherin - and killed the basilisk. It was all very impressive, but considering it was Harry, I guess not so much. Even still, Harry seemed much happier and way less stressed out.

Dumbledore awarded the house cup and, of course, it went to Gryffindor. It was an exciting night and when the Gryffindors reached the common room that night, they had a giant celebration. Since Darcy was a second year, she still wasn't allowed to drink any butterbeer or fire whiskey. She did indulge herself in sweets though. She was very hyped on sugar and was dancing about and talking to everyone.

She talked to Lavender and Parvati who seemed still in shock. She talked to Neville who was happy, but not celebrating with everyone else. Usually he and Darcy sat out the parties together, but she really wanted to celebrate this time. To her surprise, it was tremendously fun. She danced to music by the Weird Sisters, talked to people she barely spoke to before, like Ron and older Gryffindors like Oliver Wood, Angelina Johnson, Lee Jordan, and Katie Bell. She also made her way to Seamus and Dean who were partying it up, she was hugged by Seamus and totally taken aback.

"Seamus, are you okay?" She asked.

Seamus was utterly delighted, "Of course I'm okay! I'm fantastic! Hogwarts isn't closing!"

She smiled brightly at his excitement and grabbed his shoulders and shook him, "I know! We don't have to say good bye!"

Seamus said, "It's amazing news! I thought I'd lose you and not talk to you again, but now we get to come back!"

Darcy blushed, and hugged him, "Yeah, I know," she said into the hug, "and we can totally hang out this summer, too!"

She pulled back and then Seamus planted a kiss on her cheek. Darcy let go of him and put a hand to her cheek, letting her jaw drop.

Seamus just said, "What?! It's a celebration!"

Darcy smiled again and scoffed, pushing him, "Oh, bugger, I'll see you later. Go celebrate with someone else."

Seamus laughed and then walked away. Darcy made her way around the room, chatting and laughing. She made it to George and Fred and jumped on George's back, piggyback style. He said, "Woah," but grabbed her legs so she wouldn't fall off. He looked to the side and saw Darcy's face.

She was laughing and Fred pulled her off of George. He slung her on top of his shoulders and she screamed in protest, but didn't kick her feet as not to bash people in the face. He walked around with her to the outside of the crowd, her screaming, "Put me down!" the whole way. He finally set her on her feet next to the window and was laughing. She punched his arm and said, "Hey! That wasn't nice!"

George showed up and then he said, "It's not nice to jump on me like that, either."

Darcy laughed and hugged the two of them. Fred asked, "Have you been drinking or something? What's gotten into you?"

Darcy said, "No, second years aren't allowed, remember? I'm just happy that I get to see you two all the time still!"

Fred rolled his eyes and George laughed, "Yeah, whatever, Diggory. You would've found a way to bug us even if the school had ended."

Darcy smiled and hugged them again. They patted her and Fred sighed, but then laughed.

She continued to party all night and the next day was unfortunately the real day to leave. They all boarded the train and Darcy sat with Neville as always. She told Neville about how fun it is to party and told him he needed to join some time. He gave an unconvincing "Yeah" but Darcy didn't push him anymore.

They made plans for the summer and Neville perked up. They decided to do what they did last summer. Spend a few days at Darcy's and then a couple weeks later, spend a few day's at Neville's when he goes to visit his parents.

She also needed to make plans with Seamus and Hermione and maybe even Fred and George, too. This summer was going to be unforgettable!

**-End of Book 2-**


	17. Book 3: Chapter 1: Hanging Out

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

**Author's Note: Congratulations, you've made it to the third book! To anyone who's been following this story, thank you so much! I finally get to write the good stuff! I've been looking forward to writing this book because there's so much more to write about. So if you thought that the first two books were too fast paced, didn't have enough interaction or description, or if you came for more romance, it's about to start kicking in!**

**As always, I'd love for any kind of feedback! Good or bad! Please just drop me a review. Also, if you've been along this far in the ride you might as well follow if you're not already. And if that's too much commitment, favorites mean a lot too. Haha, thanks and enjoy! **

Over the summer, Darcy found time to spend with all her friends. She wrote to Seamus, Neville, Hermione, and even Fred and George. She had made plans with the Weasleys to hang out but then their dad won the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw. They decided to use the money to go to Egypt, where the twins - well, George, mostly - continued writing to her. Apparently they went because of his brother, Charlie. Charlie worked with dragons and was in Egypt studying. George told her about how hot it was there, but there were lots of really old tombs that were cool. She always felt quite boring when she wrote back about just trying to practice quidditch. She practiced all summer and was going to play with Fred and George, but couldn't. But still, she was happy they had written to each other. George made sure to poke fun at her about how she probably wouldn't be any good anyway.

Other than George, Darcy had also made plans with Seamus. She visited him in Ireland (by way of Floo Network, of course) and stayed for a night. Since Seamus was half and half, they did a few things that Darcy hadn't seen before - you know, _muggle_ things. His dad was a business man and made many.. "phone calls". Darcy was really confused and asked Seamus quietly, "What is that thing your dad is talking into?"

Seamus laughed, "That's a telephone. It's a thing muggles use to talk to each other from far away."

Darcy nodded, "Ohh, that's neat! How far can it reach?"

Seamus shrugged, "I mean, it can reach anywhere, I guess, but it costs more to talk to someone farther away."

Darcy gasped, "It **cost** to talk to each other in muggle world?"

Seamus nodded and looked sympathetic, "Muggles have to pay for pretty much everything."

Darcy said, "Oh, what else do they have to pay for? And what is that box?"

Seamus' dad had picked up the remote to the television and clicked it on.

Darcy gasped and looked at Seamus disbelieving, "Wait! Did he just use magic? Is that what a muggle wand looks like?!"

Seamus just laughed at her and explained what a remote and television is.

Darcy laughed, "I bet I seem like an idiot for not knowing any of this."

Seamus smirked, "Nah, I think it's actually kind of cute."

Darcy blushed and smirked, not knowing what to say.

They stayed up late, talking about muggles, Hogwarts, what classes they were going to take, what the rest of holiday was going to consist of, and their homework. They talked about the homework but didn't actually do it. His mum finally had to tell them to go to sleep around 2 AM. They obeyed and the next day Darcy went back home.

* * *

Neville came to stay at her house for a few days. They didn't do much the first night except talk about the usual things like homework and what they did when they were apart. The next day, however, they decided to go swimming. Darcy didn't notice until she put on her swim suit that her top didn't fit quite like it used to. It was much tighter and her boobs had almost overfilled it. Distressed, she wrapped herself in a towel and went to her mum and asked if she had a swimsuit she could borrow. Darcy's mum laughed and gave her one that was meant for women. The top fit but the bottoms didn't. Luckily, her mum's swimsuit was the same color as her old swimsuit - black. So, Darcy ended up wearing her mum's woman top and her own child bottoms. She flung her towel over her shoulder, put her sandals on and finally went to the living room where Neville had been waiting. When he saw her his eyes widened and suddenly she grew self conscious. She wrapped herself in her towel and blushed.

"Can you tell?" She asked.

Neville snapped out of it and looked at Darcy's face, instead of her body which he had previously been staring at. He blushed and gulped, "T-tell what?"

Darcy blinked at him. Maybe he didn't notice that she was wearing two different pieces to a bathing suit, "Nothing.. umm.. let's just go swimming, yeah?"

Neville nodded and the two of them went outside, Darcy still clutching her towel around herself. It was a hot June day. They walked in silence as they made their way to the rock where they usually put their things when swimming. It wasn't very far from Darcy's house because she could still see it and the rocl sat at the top of a hill leading to the lake where she always swam in the summer. Neville took his sandals off and put his towel down. Darcy flipped her sandals off and reluctantly put the towel down. Neville didn't say anything and mostly avoided looking at her body. Her belly wasn't completely flat, as it still had a little baby fat, but she was pretty thin and her chest didn't really match her tiny frame. She must have inherited this from her mother, because she was the same way. Darcy was already beginning to sweat and they had barely done anything. She put her hair in a high ponytail and instantly felt relieved. She took her glasses off and set them down with her other things. She smiled and then started running for the lake, "I bet I'll beat you there, Neville!"

He started running behind and caught up, "You wish!"

They raced down the hill and then both jumped in about the same time.

When Darcy popped her head up, Neville did too.

"I was totally first," she said.

"Sure, whatever you want to believe, Darcy!" Then he splashed her.

She gasped and splashed back. They played around and swam for a bit. Darcy swam back to the shore where there wasn't much sand but lots of little pebble-like rocks. It was practically like a beach of these pebbly rocks. She sat in the rocks right where the shore line would hit her. She sat in the shade of a tree and Neville joined her. Some of her chin-length fringe fell out of her ponytail while they were swimming, but she didn't care. Neville sat next to her and played with the rocks, picking them up and throwing them as far as he could into the large lake. Darcy smiled, "You think that was a good throw?"

Neville scoffed and laughed, "Nah, I can do better. Watch."

He took a rock and threw it really far. Darcy took one and threw it with all her might. It went almost, but not quite as far as Neville's. Neville laughed mockingly, "Ha, ha, see? I'm a better thrower than you are."

Darcy laughed, "Yeah, well, I've always been more of Keeper than a Chaser, anyway."

Neville giggled, "You know, I've always wanted to try to play quidditch, but nobody ever taught me. I think Gran's afraid I'll get hurt or something."

Darcy smiled at Neville and said, "She's just worried about you because she cares about you, silly. I know _I_ care about you."

Neville smiled and piddled with another pebble rock. Darcy brought her knees up and held her feet. She looked at Neville in his blue swim trunks with his pudgy little belly slightly flopping over it and smiled even more and looked out at the lake. She was thinking… Was she really thinking her best friend was cute? She glanced at him again and he had glanced back at her. They both looked away. Yes, she was definitely thinking he was cute.

Neville said with his voice cracked, "**I**, umm," he cleared his throat, "I care about you, too."They looked at each other and smiled. She then tackled him and splashed little bits of the shore water in his face. They splashed each other again and then eventually went back inside. Before they reached her house, though, Neville said, "Oh, Darcy. I forgot to tell you."

She stopped and looked at him. He continued, "I really like your hair like that."

She blushed and decided that she'd keep it like that for a while, with the front down and everything.

* * *

Hermione made plans with Darcy in the middle of July. The two of them did a lot of homework together and Hermione droned on about how jealous she was of Ron being in Egypt. She said that he was probably learning a whole lot and she would have loved to go for the learning opportunity. The two girls went to London together to Diagon Alley. They went to find Harry a birthday present, when Darcy remembered, "Oh! Neville's birthday is coming up, too!"

"Well, we'll have to get him something while we're here."

Darcy scratched her head, "Oh, but what should I get him..?"

Hermione shrugged, "I don't know Neville as well as you do. What does he like?"

"Hmm.. Well, lately he's been taking a liking to Herbology."

"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, "You should get him a book!"

Darcy shook her head, "No, I don't think he'd like a book.. Maybe I'll get him a plant. Just a little one so it's not a burden to keep or anything."

Hermione nodded, "That sounds like a great idea! Now.. I was thinking I could get Harry something to do with quidditch."

They went to Quality Quidditch Supplies and looked around. Darcy looked around while Hermione talked to the witch working there. Darcy thought mostly about quidditch rather than actually looking at the items. She thought about how rubbish she was at the sport. Her brother had been trying to work with her all summer and it was just not working out. She could fly just fine but she couldn't catch the quaffle when Cedric would throw it at her, nonetheless be able to catch the snitch while it's flying_ away_ from her. She couldn't dodge the bludgers very well. She felt lucky to have a healer for a mother, because she got knocked out by one and woke up three days later in her bedroom. Her mother told her that she'd gotten hit in the nose and that she fixed it while she was knocked out. The only thing Darcy was sort of okay at was playing keeper. She missed some of the shots but she could actually block most of them.

Hermione tapped Darcy's shoulder, "You ready to go? I got his gift right here," she held up a little bag with something black in it.

"What did you get him?"

They started walking out of the shop and Hermione said, "It's a servicing kit for a broom. It has all these really cool things in it, like a broom compass and a little guide for do-it-yourself cleaning. The witch working there said that it would be a perfect gift for any quidditch player."

Hermione smiled proudly and then asked, "So where should we go to get Neville's gift?"

Darcy shrugged, "I'm not sure. Let's just look around until we find something."

Hermione said, "Okay!" with a smile and they started walking.

They passed many stalls, Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, Broomstix, Ollivander's Wand Shop, and Sugarplum's Sweets Shop. Darcy hadn't seen anything to attract her attention, but Hermione saw Eeylop's Owl Emporium and started to say, "You know, I've been thinking. I love Marie and she makes me want a cat, but I think owls are a lot more useful, don't you think?"

Darcy laughed, "Yeah, but owls aren't cuddly. _And_ I don't know if you remember, but Marie tried saving your life."

Hermione laughed, "Yes, I remember. Well, even still, I'm not sure. My birthday is coming up in September and I think I want a pet."

Darcy smiled, "Yeah, pets are awesome! I'm sure whatever you get, it'll be lovely."

Darcy spotted Slug and Jiggers Apothecary and told Hermione, "Let's look in there. I bet they have some plants in there."

They went in and there was a lot of grim looking things. Hermione suggested a few rotten looking things, telling Darcy the uses of each, but Darcy said, "I want to get him something nice looking, but also useful."

Hermione kept looking around and then Darcy spotted it, a white flower with a black stem that was probably the prettiest thing in the whole shop. She remembered learning about them at some point. She picked it up and Hermione looked over her shoulder at it.

"Ah," Hermione said, "Moly! That can counteract enchantments can't it?"

Darcy smiled and nodded. She didn't have to think about it much more. She purchased the plant and left. She told Hermione, "You know, this pot is pretty dull. I mean, I know it's just an ordinary brown pot for a plant, but I think I want something better."

Hermione giggled, "You really want to give him a good-looking gift.. _Interesting_." She nudged Darcy and winked at her.

Darcy rolled her eyes, "I would get _any_ of my friends a good-looking gift."

Hermione laughed, "Oh, good. I'll remember that when it's my birthday."

The two girls went back to Darcy's mum who was waiting for them in the Leaky Cauldron. They went back to Darcy's house where Hermione was staying the night. They spent their time wrapping the gifts. Darcy asked her mother to use some transfiguration to make the pot into a more charming vase. She did as her daughter asked and then returned to whatever it was that mums do. Her father got home that night and let out a long sigh.

"What's wrong, dad?" Cedric had asked.

"Oh, it's just that Sirius Black. They've started to pull us off our regular jobs to try and find him," he informed Cedric, Darcy, Hermione, and Darcy's mum.

Her mum suggested that he go lie down and take a break. He agreed and they went upstairs together. Cedric talked to Darcy and Hermione about Sirius Black.

"You've heard what's going on, haven't you?" He asked Hermione.

"Yes. I've got the Daily Prophet delivered to my house now. It's really scary, isn't it? He killed twelve innocent people," Hermione said.

Darcy nodded, "It is really scary. I don't like to think about how they haven't caught him yet."

Cedric said, "Oh, Darcy, it's okay. When we're at Hogwarts we'll be safe. Until then, I think dad can protect us."

Darcy and Hermione nodded. It was quiet for a while and then Hermione said that they should probably get to doing their homework. Darcy agreed and the girls went to Darcy's room. Darcy asked Hermione what classes she was taking.

"I'm taking Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, the Study of Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies, and all of our regular classes."

"How are you doing **all** of that in one year? Isn't Arithmancy and Divination scheduled for the same time? I know that because Neville is taking Divination and I'm taking Arithmancy. It's the only class we don't have together."

Hermione blushed, apparently not wanting to say anything, "Well, it's umm…"

Darcy said, "Hermione, you can tell me anything, you know. I can keep a secret."

Hermione pursed her lips, "Well," she said after a long pause, "I'm... sort of getting help from one of the teachers." She let out a deep breath, "A-and, that's all I'm going to tell you."

Darcy pouted, "C'mon, Hermione! I know you're hiding something from me."

Hermione looked conflicted, "Look, I want to tell you but I promised Professor McGonagall I wouldn't tell anyone."

Darcy smirked, "Ohhh, so you're getting help from Professor McGonagall."

Hermione face-palmed, "Oh, Darcy, please! I didn't mean to say that! I can't tell you. I want to, but I can't."

Darcy sighed, "Fine. I guess it's okay that you don't tell me.. You will eventually, though." She snickered and Hermione rolled her eyes.

The girls went to bed early and they practiced flying the next day. When Hermione went home, Darcy smiled at the gift she got Neville. It had a small vase, big enough only for one flower. She didn't know how to wrap it without messing it up so she didn't. She figured she would just give it to him.

* * *

The time came for her to go to Neville's. He was going to visit his parents for his birthday and he wanted Darcy to come with. She went to his house with the flower in hand and her pink rucksack on her back contaning her things and of course, Marie. When she emerged from Neville's fireplace, she saw him standing there. She hugged him, Moly in hand. He hugged back and then when they parted he saw it. She smiled and bit her lip. She grabbed it with both hands and said, "Happy Birthday. I know it's not much, but I really like it and I hope you do too. It's Moly. It's supposed to be able to get rid of enchantments."

Neville took it and smiled, "This is awesome, Darcy. Thanks!" He hugged her with one arm and then said, "I'll go put this in my room. Go ahead and put your things in the guest room."

Darcy laughed and told Augusta, Neville's gran, "You know, I'm here so often, this room might as well be mine."

Augusta chuckled back, "Yes, Darcy, you are here quite often."

Darcy smiled and went to put her rucksack in the well-known guest bedroom. She let Marie out to run around.

When she went back to the den, Neville was putting his shoes on. Augusta said, "Are you ready to go, Darcy?"

She nodded and Neville finished putting his shoes on. They went to St. Mungo's via Floo Network and when they got to Neville's parents' residence, they spotted a new patient. Darcy nudged Neville and whispered, "Is that… Professor Lockhart?"

Neville looked at the man who undoubtedly _was_ indeed Gilderoy Lockhart. The two ignored him and proceeded to Alice and Frank (Neville's parents). The visit went per usual. The couple asked who we were and Augusta explained probably for the two-hundredth time that she was Frank's mom and that Neville was their son and Darcy was his friend.

Augusta was a wonderfully nice woman toward Darcy, but always nagged Neville about something. "Stand up taller," "Stop mumbling," etc. Frank and Alice weren't really listening to what Augusta had said and she of course grew impatient. Her son was just staring at her and Alice tried petting the stuffed vulture on her hat.

Neville could tell she was getting impatient with his mother, so he offered her some candy as always. She accepted it and gave him a hug. Darcy smiled at her and she smiled back. Alice ate the candy and Neville talked to his parents like they understood what he was saying. He told them about the Chamber of Secrets and about how Darcy had gotten him a really nice gift for his birthday. And how that day it was his birthday and he was happy to see them.

Darcy just stood next to Augusta, listening to Neville. She always felt sad about Neville's relationship with his parents. During his whole speech, Frank stared at him and Alice just played with the wrapper from the candy Neville had given her.

"So, anyway," Neville said. "I think we have to get going now." He looked at Augusta and she nodded. He hugged his dad and then his mum. She gave him the wrapper back and they left. On their way out, they still didn't say anything to Lockhart. What was there to say?

That night, they did homework and talked and laughed. The next day, they just sat around the house and played cards, read the paper, and Darcy put on some music. It was a kind of slow-ish song and she offered her hand to dance. He looked skeptically at her.

She thrust her hand in front of him again and gave him a look as if to say, "c'mon then".

He seemed reluctant but took her hand anyway. She began trying to dance with him like a waltz. She said, "Have you ever danced like this before?"

His face was pink and he said, "No, have you?"

"Only once," se said as they swayed back and forth to the music, "I was little and it was for some special banquet my brother went to for the little league quidditch team."

Neville nodded, "Who did you dance with?"

Darcy stopped and blinked thoughtfully, "He was a very awkward boy. He had red hair, I know that. And he said his brother was on the team… I can't remember his name.. I think it was like, Rory or Robert or something. It started with an R. Was it… Raymond? Hmm.. Oh! Ronald!"

Suddenly Darcy let go of Neville and put her hand to her mouth, her eyes wide and eyebrows high, she started laughing and Neville realised what she realised. He laughed and asked, "Do you think it was-"

Darcy shook her head, "No, I know it was Ron! He said his brother was in it. How many red-headed Ronald's are there in England with brothers who play quidditch?"

Neville laughed and Darcy joined him. She went back to their dancing position and said, "Oh, I'll have to ask Ron if he remembers that." She laughed again, "That's too funny. I wonder which brother."

Neville shrugged, "Maybe it was Fred and George."

Darcy nodded. She laughed again, "Oh well, I'll be able to ask soon enough."

They danced and laughed and talked and soon went to sleep. Then the next day Darcy went home after breakfast.

* * *

In August, Darcy's family took a trip to Italy. It was a lovely get away. Away from the fear of Sirius Black and her dad seemed like he could finally relax. They went to the beach and Darcy found a new bathing suit to fit her. It was purple and had white polka dots on it. She sure was glad to keep her hair in a ponytail, it was even hotter in Italy than back in England.

By the third day they were there, Darcy had acquired a tan and so had her brother. They spent 5 days there then returned home. It was a very lovely and normal getaway. Soon, Summer was coming to a close, though, so she had made her trip to Diagon Alley to get her books and school things. The day came faster than Darcy thought it would. It was the day to go back to Hogwarts.


	18. Book 3: Chapter 2: Dementor?

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

Darcy had all her things and went with her family to King's Cross in London to board the Hogwarts Express on Platform 9 3/4 at 11 AM on September 1st, 1993. She had a fun-filled summer but with new classes ahead of her, she was ready to start the year. She and Cedric gave their parents a hug and exchanged, "good bye"s and "I love you"s with them. Cedric smiled down at his sister and hopped on the train, her following with her pink rucksack and big suitcase, both full of school books and told her brother, "See you later," when he found his friends.

She continued looking around and saw Harry, Hermione and Ron in one compartment with a man sleeping in one corner. She stopped in the doorway and said, "I hope you all had a good summer," in a quiet voice as not to wake the man sleeping.

Ron said, "Yeah, you too." and Harry nodded.

Hermione said with a smile, "Mine was good, I decided to get a cat instead of an owl." She was about to take the cat out of its basket when someone shoved Darcy's suit case against the wall.

Darcy yelled at the boy who did it, "Hey, watch where you're going, will you?" The big brunette boy Darcy recognised as one of the blokes who ran around with Malfoy. He kept walking and pushed others as he went.

Darcy growled in anger and looked back to Hermione who had stopped fooling with the cat, mostly because Ron was complaining about it attacking his rat. Darcy said, "Hermione, I really better find somewhere to put my bags away. Show me your cat when we get to Gryffindor tower, okay?"

She flashed a look at Ron and he seemed grateful to her. Hermione agreed and they parted ways.

Darcy continued looking around. She found her friends, Seamus, Dean, and Neville in a compartment a few doors down from Hermione and joined them. She put her suitcase on the luggage racks above the seats and her rucksack under the seats and gave each boy a hug before sitting next to Neville, "How was everyone's summer?"

Dean said, "It was great! My family went to France! I saw the Eiffel Tower and everything, it was really nice! I didn't really like the food much, though-"

Seamus butted in, "The highlight of my summer was seeing you, Diggory. Dad was working too much so we didn't get to go on holiday this year."

Darcy said, "Dean, France sounds wonderful." She glanced at Seamus with a look to show him that he was rude for interrupting, then looked back to Dean. "I am sorry about the food, though. My family went to Italy. The food there was **amazing**! It was blistering hot, though."

Dean said, "Yeah, that's a nice tan you've got."

"Oh!" Darcy said looking at her skin, she smiled, "Thanks!" she looked at Seamus and said, "Now, Seamus. I'm glad that you enjoyed my visit.. And I'm sorry you didn't get to go anywhere."

Seamus smirked, "S'alright. My mum got a puppy, so I got to play with him a lot."

Darcy smiled, "Aww! What breed is it?"

Seamus chuckled, "She's a Dalmatian! Named her Jane. Well, my mum named her, of course. She's just a puppy so it's a bit of a hassle, but she's pretty cute at the end of the day."

Darcy smiled at him and then looked at Neville, "Now, Neville, how is the Moly doing? Have you used it?"

Neville's eyebrows lifted slightly as if remembering something horrid, "Actually, yeah. I have. It's a bit of a long story."

Seamus asked, "What's a Moly?"

Darcy told him about the plant and that she got Neville it for his birthday. He seemed rather jealous, saying, "You didn't get me anything for _my_ birthday."

Darcy retorted, "I don't even _know_ your birthday."

Seamus said, "It's the fourteenth of November."

Darcy nodded, "Well, now I'll remember and get you something. So, stop being a baby."

Seamus said, "I'm not being a baby, you're the one-"

It began raining and whatever Seamus had said, Darcy didn't catch because she was right by the window that was wide open. She was getting pelted by rain as she pushed the window up. She ignored whatever Seamus was trying to say and looked at her drenched clothes. Dean had also gotten a bit wet from the rain and Seamus laughed at the two of them. Darcy rolled her eyes at him and excused herself to the restroom, bringing her school robes to change into. She wiped her glasses off on her dry clothes after changing and then set off to return to the boys.

When she got back, the curtains were down which meant they must have decided to get changed as well. She knocked on the door with one hand, the other holding her wet clothes. Neville's voice said, "Hold on, we're almost done."

She stood against the door and out of the way of the people passing by. Draco Malfoy had stopped down the hall at Harry, Hermione, and Ron's compartment. Probably being a jerk, no doubt. And she was right about the boy from earlier. He was one of Malfoy's followers.

Someone opened the door and she fell backward onto the floor. Seamus laughed loudly, Dean chuckled lightly, and Neville apologised and helped her up.

Darcy stood to her feet and said, "What are _you_ laughing at, Seamus?" Then she threw her wet clothes at his face.

He threw them back and then the rain started coming down harder, the sky getting darker. It got so dark that the lights had come in the compartment and in the hallways. Darcy hung her damp clothes up next to Dean's to dry. She heard a scratching sound and remembered her cat. She opened the pink bag and out came her fully grown white fluffy cat. She was a slender cat with a petite face. She blinked her tired blue eyes up at her owner.

Darcy picked her up and set her on the seat between her and Neville. Dean said, "Wow, Marie sure has grown, Darcy."

Darcy smiled and nodded, petting her cat, "I know. It seems like yesterday she was still just a kitten."

Neville pet her, "She's still a cute cat, though."

Darcy nodded, "So, anyway, you guys. Aren't you all excited bout Hogsmeade? It's the only full wizard village in all of Britain!"

Seamus said, "I don't really care about that as much, but we get to drink butterbeer and fire whiskey this year."

Dean said, "Yeah, I wonder what it tastes like! I heard it burns."

Darcy said, "I heard it burns, too. I can't wait to try it! Parties will be fun now too, won't they?"

Seamus said, "Oh yeah! We get to drink at the parties! I forgot about that."

Neville said in a sheepish voice, "I-I don't think Gran would like it if I drank anything. So, I don't think I will."

Dean said, "Oh, Neville, your gran will never know. She did sign your permission slip to go to Hogmeade, didn't she?"

Neville said, "Well, yes, but-"

Seamus interrupted, "Then she knows you'll probably go to the Three Broomsticks. That's the pub there. My mum said she and her friends would always go there and drink as much butterbeer as they could hold."

Darcy said, "Oh, I can't wait!"

Neville just looked down and remained silent.

The train started coming to a stop and Dean said, "Why are we stopping? We can't be there yet."

Seamus got up and tried looking out the foggy window, "It's really dark, but I think something's moving out there."

Neville poked his head out of the compartment, "I think I'll go ask around," he informed the others.

Darcy grabbed his hand and squeezed it before he left, "Be careful." She did not have a good feeling about this at all.

The train came to a jolting stop and Seamus's suitcase fell right in front of Darcy, "OUCH!" She screamed and gripped her foot. Marie meowed and jumped back into the open rucksack under Darcy's feet. Then all the lights went out. Seamus reached his hand out and said, "Darcy, are you okay?"

He hit her in the face and knocked her glasses off, "Hey, those were my glasses!"

It was pitch black, she felt her glasses in her lap and put them on.

She felt Seamus's presence sit next to her, "Sorry," he said.

Dean said, "What do you guys think is going on?"

Darcy said in a frightened voice, "No idea."

It started getting freezing cold and Darcy shivered a bit. Suddenly, she felt very, very sad. Sad thoughts were popping in her brain. She scooted closer to Seamus, trying to stay warm. She said, "It got rather chilly didn't it?"

Seamus's voice seemed grim, "Yeah," he said.

Darcy began remembering lots of terrible things. She thought of Hermione when she was petrified. She suddenly felt the heart break of telling Harry her feelings and his rejection to her. She worried about her dad in his hunt for Sirius Black. Then she completely dwelled on the scene she saw with Neville and his parents. She was so consumed in all of these terrible thoughts she hadn't even paid attention to what was going on around her.

Dean was watching the hallway doe-eyed. A big black cloaked figure drifted past the door. The windows had frozen over. There was silence for a moment, then a thud from another compartment a few doors down. Then a light shone from the same direction as the thud and then everything started warming up again.

Darcy looked around and still couldn't make out anything. Then the lights came on and the train started moving again. Darcy spoke up in a quiet voice, "Did you guys see that _thing_?"

Dean nodded, "What do you think it was?"

Darcy shrugged. Seamus said, "I don't know what it was, but I feel really sad."

She and Dean nodded. Dean said, "I wonder what happened to Neville."

Darcy looked out in the hallway, where there were students walking around, "I dunno, but I think I might go look for him."

She stood up and there was a throbbing pain in her right foot where Seamus's suitcase fell on it. She winced and said to him before leaving, "You might want to pick _that_ up." She had pointed to his luggage

He obeyed and Darcy left the compartment, limping slightly, looking around for Neville. She found him in Harry's compartment. She stood in the doorway and was about to enter as the man who had been sleeping earlier left. He looked down as he passed her and said, "Oh, dear. You should see if one of your friends will give you a bit of chocolate. It'll help."

He walked off and she looked at the others with a confused look. Neville came forward and gave her piece of his chocolate and grabbed her shoulder. "We better leave them alone," he said.

He made to leave and Darcy looked at the others with confusion. She turned around and followed him, asking, "Wh-who was that man?"

Neville just said, "I'll explain in a minute."

Darcy sighed and they went back to Seamus and Dean. Darcy sat down with Neville next to her and felt instant relief on her foot when she took the weight off of it.

Neville said to Darcy, who was still holding the chocolate he had given her, "Eat that, it really does help."

She bit into it and she did, indeed, feel much better. Neville said to the boys, "You two should eat some chocolate, too."

They looked at him questioningly, but he kept talking, "Okay, so," he looked at Darcy, "that man is named Lupin. He's a new professor. He told me, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny that those cloaked things are dementors."

Darcy said, "Oh! Aren't they the guards of Azkaban? I think I've head my father talk about them before. But.. What were they doing _here_?"

Neville said, "Professor Lupin thinks they came looking for Sirius Black… Anyway, when they came to the compartment I was in, they kind of cornered Harry, then he passed out. Professor Lupin cast some sort of spell with a silvery light and they all went away. Not sure why Harry passed out, but I know I felt horrible."

Seamus said, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I didn't think I could be happy again. I'm still a little shaken up."

Neville said, "Oh, yeah. I'll be right back."

He left and then came back moments later with some chocolate. He gave both Seamus and Dean a piece and they ate it. It was like someone flipped a switch in their appearance. They seemed to be a lot better than before.

Darcy said, "So, why would those dementors think Black was on the train anyway?"

Neville shrugged. Dean said, "That's scary. What if Black _is_ on the train?"

Darcy's eyes widened and looked at Seamus, then Neville.

Seamus said, "He can't be... Someone would've seen him."

The others nodded unconvinced. Darcy said, "You know, when the dementors were here, I was really scared."

Neville sat up a little straighter and looked at Darcy and said, "Yeah, it _was_ really scary. You know, I saw it's hand."

Darcy gasped, "That's **really** scary! Weren't you frightened?"

Seamus piped in with a mocking tone, "Yeah, I bet you were, Longbottom. I'm surprised you didn't pass out like Potter."

Darcy's jaw dropped and Neville retorted, "Well, I didn't. I bet _you_ would've if you saw it up close like I did."

Dean said, "Woah, you guys. I think we can all agree that t was scary and leave it at that."

Neville relaxed and Seamus growled a bit. Darcy looked between the two boys. She was confused. She thought that they were friends. Why were they being so mean to each other? She thought that maybe it was a boy thing.

It was quiet for a while after that and Darcy started to lean back into the seat and shut her eyes. She put her hand on the seat and she didn't mean to but ended up brushing against Neville's hand. She pulled away. "Oh, s-sorry," she said under her breath.

He was blushing and said, "It's okay," as he put his hands in his lap.

She leaned her head back against the seat and shut her eyes again, crossing her arms.

She fell asleep for the rest of the ride and woke up leaning against Neville when they arrived. She opened her eyes and looked to Seamus and Dean who were getting their things together. She leaned up and looked at Neville, still in a daze.

"Did I.." she pointed at his shoulder. He nodded. Realisation came crashing on her, "Oh I'm so sorry!"

Neville laughed and said, "It's fine, it's fine."

Seamus said with resent as he was leaving the compartment, "Don't worry about it, Darcy. Longbottom probably enjoyed it."

Neville blushed and Darcy got her things together. He followed her lead and they went to take the self-pulling carriages to the castle where they would soon have a feast.


	19. Book 3: Chapter 3: First Day

******DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

**Author's Note: I have been informed by user horsebell that the actual wizarding drinking age is 17 (thanks horsebell) and I'm really sorry to have this be non-canon, but I think I'm going to keep it at 13 for the sake of this story. I could change it but there's a lot I've already written for later that involves the alcohol. However, I will keep in mind that butter beer does not have alcohol and I will keep that canon. Again, I apologize for this and I hope it doesn't bother anyone too much! Thank you for sticking around!**

**(AND ALSO!) Welcome to my new followers! The amount has nearly doubled since my last update so I'd just like to say WELCOME! Thanks for following and I hope I don't disappoint!**

At the castle, all the first years got sorted into their new houses and Dumbledore announced that Professor Lupin would be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. He also announced that Hagrid, the keeper of the grounds of Hogwarts, would be teaching Care of Magical Creatures. Darcy hadn't ever talked to Hagrid that much, but she knew that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were close with him. She was excited that she would actually get the chance to meet him.

Dumbledore went over all the usual beginning of the year things and then the feast began. They filled their bellies with delicious food and followed the prefects back to the common room. Hermione exclaimed happily for Darcy to follow her to their room and she promptly introduced her to her cat.

"Darcy, _this_ is Crookshanks! Isn't he gorgeous?"

Darcy looked at the old ginger cat and didn't think he was gorgeous in the slightest. She tried to imagine what she thought of him. She decided and nodded to Hermione and smiled, "I think he's really unique, Hermione."

Hermione smiled brightly at her and added, "Oh, yes. I know!" She then turned angry and pet the cat a bit roughly, "Ronald seems to think he's ugly and keeps **insisting** that Crookshanks here wants to eat his rat. He would never do that, would you Crookshanks?"

The cat purred under Hermione's pampering hand. Darcy said, "Well, Ron can go be happy with his rat by himself then," and Darcy pet the cat as well. "Hey! I've got an idea! Let's see how Crookshanks and Marie get along."

Hermione put Crookshanks down and Darcy went over to let Marie out of her bag. The cat stretched and yawned as she got out of the bag and Darcy said to her, "Marie, there's someone you should meet."

Darcy brought her cat over to Crookshanks and let her down. The two sniffed at each other and seemed reluctant to get near the other at first. Darcy and Hermione exchanged nervous glances. Marie was much smaller than Crookshanks. She inched closer and sniffed his squashed face. Crookshanks didn't protest, so Marie tried licking him. He let her and then brushed against her in a friendly way.

Darcy let out a breath she had been holding and Hermione said, "Oh, that's wonderful. They like each other!"

Both girls were content and stayed up with Lavender and Parvati as they usually did the first night back. They all discussed their summers, the dementor on the train, what classes they were taking, Hogsmeade and then Lavender brought up the subject of boys.

"You know," Lavender said, "Darcy, you hang out with Seamus a lot… Does he ever- does he ever talk about me?"

Darcy thought and then remembered once in a letter he'd sent her that he mentioned how she was really annoying and kept sending him letters - that he never replied to.

She lied, "Ummm.. I think that he mentioned something about you two writing over the summer."

Lavender sighed, "Well, that's _half_ true. I wrote to him but he never wrote me back."

Darcy hadn't lied very much in her life, but it came very naturally to her, "No, he told me he did. Maybe the owl carrying it just got lost?"

Lavender perked up a bit, "Maybe.. Yeah, maybe it did. Did he.. tell you what he said?"

Darcy shook her head, "No, he didn't. But he seemed happy to have written you."

Oh, she felt awful for lying, but she didn't want to hurt Lavender's feelings. She felt like she should've because of the way Lavender and Parvati made fun of her about Neville last year, but this was Seamus's problem, not hers.

Parvati seemed to be reading Darcy's mind and said, "Darcy, we're really sorry about messing with you about Neville.. We were just trying to have fun."

Darcy wanted to be mad at them, but didn't find the energy to anymore. As much as she loved hanging out with Dean, Seamus, and Neville, or Fred and George, she really needed some girl time. She smiled and waved it away, "Ah, that's water under the bridge. Don't worry about it. I know you two were just joking anyway."

Parvati nodded, smiling, seeming proud of herself and Lavender smiled too. Darcy thought about the question Lavender had asked, then a question rose in her own mind, "Lavender.. Do you _have a crush_ on Seamus?"

Lavender's face turned bright red and she pulled a pillow over her face, "Is it that obvious?" She whined.

Darcy chuckled, "No, no. I just thought I'd ask."

Parvati said, "Lavender hasn't stopped talking about him all summer."

Lavender was still hidden behind her pillow and said, "Oh yeah? Well… At least I have a chance with Seamus." She pulled the pillow from over her face and shouted, "Draco Malfoy would **never** go for a Gryffindor."

Parvati gasped and looked at the other two girls with wide eyes and pink cheeks, She looked back at Lavender and threw her own pillow at her, "You take that back!"

Darcy and Hermione glanced at each other with surprised faces. Darcy intervened while the other two were throwing pillows at each other.

"Parvati! Do you_ really_ like Draco Malfoy?"

Parvati and Lavender immediately stopped and Parvati didn't look Darcy in the eye, "Well.. N-no, I mean.. I don't th-think I could date him or anything.. I just.. Well, I just think he's cute, that's all."

Hermione said, "Good, because he's a vile git. Didn't hear what he called me last year?"

Darcy didn't want a fight to start between Hermione and Parvati, so she said loudly, "Malfoy** is** a prat. But, I have to agree with Parvati that he's also handsome."

Hermione looked betrayed by Darcy and Darcy said, "What?! I didn't say he's an angel. His attitude makes him extremely undesirable."

Hermione's distrustful look relaxed and then Lavender said, somewhat angrily, "Well, since you two know about who _we_ like, why don't you tell us who _you_ like?"

Hermione looked somewhat frightened and said, "I-I-I don't like anyone. I have too many classes this year to think about boys."

Parvati rolled her eyes and said, "Figures. Darcy, what about you? Do you like anyone?"

Darcy blushed and looked at her watch, "It's getting late isn't it? We all should probably go to sleep. First days are always tiring."

Lavender said, "It's only 10 o'clock, Darcy. C'mon, tell us who it is."

Darcy scattered her brain, she hadn't thought about who she liked. Certainly, she thought Neville was cute once but didn't want to ruin their friendship or anything and there was **no** way she'd tell those two that. Seamus was honestly a bit annoying, but he did have a cute accent and a nice family. Dean hadn't really talked to her that much. Quite frankly, she felt like Dean never really wanted to hang out with her but did because of Seamus. She had liked Harry the previous year but that was out of the question now. Then she considered George. He was awfully handsome and tall and funny. But there was no way she'd ever tell Parvati and Lavender who she really liked. They would mock her for ages. She considered lying to the two girls again. So, she did.

"I actually met this really nice boy from Hufflepuff... Ernie Macmillan.. Yeah, we had Herbology together last year. We've never really talked much except about herbology.. once. But, I think he's really charming."

This came as a surprise to all four girls. Darcy just made it up. She thought Ernie McMillan was putrid and the one time she did talk to him, he was correcting her about something that she turned out to be right about. Lavender and Parvati seemed to have heard the name, but not recognized who it belonged to and Hermione said in a repulsed voice, "Are you talking about the Ernie Macmillan that made me drop all my books in our first year and didn't offer to help?"

Lavender and Parvati still didn't register who it was as this had happened lots of times to Hermione. Darcy said, "Umm, I'm not sure. I don't remember that happening… He's blonde and has brown eyes and he's usually with Justin Finch-Fletchley, the boy who got…" she paused, unsure if Hermione was still sensitive about the subject, but said slowly, "umm.. petrified last year."

Lavender seemed to register the name and said to Parvati, "Oh, she's talking about Ernest. Remember? We made fun of his name."

Parvati finally nodded, "Ooh, you mean the one with his hair brushed to the side?"

Darcy snapped her fingers and pointed at Parvati convincingly, "That's him! He's the one. But, like I said, it's a long shot, really. He's always talking to that girl Susan Bones anyway."

Lavender said, "Oh, please! Susan Bones needs to brush her hair. You don't have anything to worry about."

Darcy suddenly became conscious that she had not brushed her hair that day. Then Hermione butted in, "It is getting late. I have lots of classes in the morning, so I should be getting to bed."

Lavender protested, wanting to keep talking, but Darcy agreed and Parvati just went along with the other two.

In the morning, Darcy made sure to brush her hair before putting in the ponytail that she'd grown used to over the past month. Her hair used to be wavy, but since she'd been putting it up and getting older, it seemed to have straightened out a lot.

At breakfast, she heard Malfoy making fun of Harry about passing out on the train but she ignored him. If she gave him attention, he's only continue to do it. She took a bite of the apple she was eating. She'd decided to eat fruit that morning. Neville was sitting next to her, looking over his schedule, "Okay, so I've got Divination this morning and you have Arithmancy. Then we have the rest of our classes together?"

Darcy consulted her own Timetable. She looked between his and her own, "Yeah, looks like that's the _only_ class we have different at all."

Neville nodded, "It's lame that we don't have our first class together. I was hoping I wouldn't have to go alone on the first day.."

Darcy patted Neville on the back and offered him a bite of her apple. He rejected it and said, "Well, Divination is in the North Tower anyway. I have no **clue** how to get there."

Seamus and Dean were sitting across the table from them. Dean chimed in, "Oh, Neville. Did you say North Tower? Are you talking about Divination?"

He nodded and Dean continued, "I don't know how to get there either. Seamus and I have it, too. We should all go together."

Neville seemed to perk up and suggested that they go ahead and leave, because they were bound to get lost with him around. Darcy finished her apple and then went by herself to find the Arithmancy class room. She had just left the Great Hall when Hermione showed up behind her, "Hey Darcy!"

Darcy jumped and turned around, "Hermione! I thought you were going to Divination with Harry and Ron."

Hermione said, "Oh, uh, no. See, I already met with the teacher. Although, I'm looking forward to Arithmancy because Divination was awful. Are you going there right now?"

Darcy looked quizzically at her and said, "Yeah."

Hermione walked in front of her and said, "Well, we better find it then!"

* * *

It didn't take long to get to the classroom and the teacher introduced herself as Professor Vector. She seemed very stern and began work immediately. They went over the basics of Arithmancy and already had homework. When the class was over, Darcy and Hermione walked out. Hermione seemed to be extremely happy saying, "This class is so much more practical than Divination. And Professor Vector **knows** how to run a class."

Hermione almost immediately excused herself, however, to 'use the bathroom'. Darcy went to Transfiguration next and her friends all showed up almost late. Neville took a seat next to Darcy and for some reason, everyone seemed rather off about something. Practically nobody was listening to the lesson about Animagi except Darcy. Professor Mcgonagall transformed into a cat and Darcy was the only one who seemed impressed by it. Mcgonagall demanded to know why everyone was so distracted and a lot of her classmates looked at Harry.

Hermione raised her hand and said, "Please, Professor. We've just had our first Divination class and we were reading the tea leaves and-"

Professor Mcgonagall seemed to understand instantly and asked who had been predicted to die. Harry spoke up and admitted it was he who Professor Trelawney had predicted the death omen about. Darcy whispered to Neville, "Did she really?"

Neville nodded to her and seemed a bit on edge. Professor Mcgonagall basically told them that Professor Trelawney was rubbish at seeing the future and every year she said a student would die.

When they left the class, they went to lunch where Neville seemed out of sorts. "What's the matter?" Darcy asked.

He said in a small voice, while barely eating his food, "Well, Professor Trelawney predicted that I would break my cup twice.. And I did."

Darcy laughed a bit, "Well, no offense, Neville, but you can be clumsy sometimes. _I_ could've guessed that."

He looked at her a bit upset. She shrugged and said, "What? I said no offense!" She put a hand on Neville's back, and said matter-of-factly, "If you weren't clumsy, you wouldn't be Neville."

He gave her a small smile but said as she lowered her hand, "No, it's not that. I just.. She said that my grandmother may not be well soon.."

Darcy said, "Oh.." She thought about how to cheer him up, "Well, you heard what Professor Mcgonagall said, Trelawney's always predicting bad things that **don't** happen. Don't worry about it."

Neville gave an unconvinced shrug. Darcy didn't know how else to console him, so she decided to talk about something else.

"We have Care of Magical Creatures after this, right?"

Neville nodded, not looking up from the stew he was just stirring around with his spoon.

"Aren't you excited? We get to go outside!"

Neville shrugged and Darcy cocked her head to the side and sighed, pursing her lips. She just put an arm around her best friend and said, "It's okay, Neville."

She sat up and then it was time to go outside. Hagrid's hut was just on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forrest and when they got there, Hagrid eagerly led them to a different location. He directed them to an empty paddock. He instructed them to open their books and Malfoy, who unfortunately had the class with them, complained about not knowing how.

Hagrid seemed surprised that nobody knew how to open the books and informed them that they just needed to stroke them. Malfoy mocked Hagrid and Harry told him to shut up. Hagrid seemed off after Malfoy's rounds at him, but went to go get the magical creatures.

While Hagrid was away, Malfoy and Harry were having an argument. Mostly it was Malfoy, jabbing at Harry - yet again - for fainting on the train. Hagrid came back with large half horse-half bird _things_. Darcy was a little surprised and stood a bit behind Neville. As Hagrid came closer, the whole class had taken a step back.

Hagrid told them that the creatures were called Hippogriffs. He asked the class to come closer and nobody did except Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Hagrid explained that Hippogriffs were easily offended and that if you ever insulted one, you'd be **very** sorry that you did. Hagrid explained how to approach the Hippogriffs; You needed to bow and wait for them to bow back and if they didn't then to back away.

"Right. Who wants to go first?" Hagrid asked.

The whole class backed farther away. Then Harry volunteered. Lavender and Parvati told him that he needed to remember what Professor Trelawney had said. As much rubbish as the tea leaves sounded to Darcy, she had to agree with the girls. It _was_ a dangerous situation to put himself into. The talons on those Hippogriffs looked like they could cut someone's arm off like butter.

Hagrid pulled a Hippogriff named Buckbeak away from the others and Harry bowed to it. It didn't look like it would bow back, but eventually it did. Darcy let out a relieved sigh and then Harry pet Buckbeak. The class clapped for him. Then Hagrid told him that he could fly on him. Harry reluctantly climbed on top of the Hippogriff and Buckbeak raised into the air. The creature flew once around the paddock and then landed. Darcy cheered with the class at this and she yelled, "Good job, Harry!

The class then climbed over the fence into the paddock and all tried at it themselves. Neville's Hippogriff did not want to bow, so he repeatedly backed away. Darcy was watching him and then laughed. She took a deep breath and then let it out. "Neville, you need to be more confident. Let me try."

Neville happily agreed and Darcy then stood in front of the Hippogriff. It was very large and frightening, but Darcy remembered that her dad had always told her that no matter the creature, you don't show that you're afraid of it. She made sure not to show any sign of fear and bowed to the creature. The brilliant Hippogriff stood tall and then slowly bent into a bow. Darcy smiled and inched toward the creature with an outstretch hand. It didn't nip or look reluctant as Darcy said, "You're beautiful," to him. She looked at Neville and went then left the Hippogriff, switching places with Neville.

"Remember, Neville, be more confident. Don't let him know that you're afraid of him. Just be respectful," she instructed him.

He tried again and the Hippogriff still didn't bow. He backed away again and then the air filled with a blood-curdling high pitched scream which came from Draco Malfoy. Darcy looked over to see the blonde boy laying on the ground with his robes blood-stained. He yelled that he was "dying" and after Hagrid restrained the Hippogriff, he picked Malfoy up to take him to the infirmary. Darcy and Neville exchanged looks, but followed Hagrid with the rest of the class as he went to the castle. There were arguments amongst the class about how Hagrid should be fired or that it was Malfoy's own fault.

All the Slytherins went to the Slytherin common room by the dungeons while the Gryffindors went to the Gryffindor common room. Darcy said to Neville, "You know, that Malfoy sure was acting like he'd got his arm cut off or something."

Neville said, "Yeah, but did you see all that blood? What if he did get it cut off?"

Seamus scoffed, "He didn't get his arm cut off! And if he did, he deserved it."

Dean agreed, "He **was** asking for it. You should've heard him. He was calling that Hippogriff all these terrible names. Hagrid specifically said not to insult them, but he wasn't listening."

Darcy shook her head in aggravation, "Good, maybe now he's learned his lesson to keep his big blabbering mouth shut next time."

Seamus rolled his eyes, "I doubt it."

Neville remained silent as they continued on about it. Later Darcy asked about Divination to Seamus and Dean.

"It was really hot in there."

"And it took us a while to find it."

"I felt like falling asleep because of the smell."

"Professor Trelawney kind of freaks me out."

The two went back and forth. Then Dean said something peculiar to Darcy.

Seamus had said, "Professor Trelawney seemed to really like scaring Potter."

Dean said, "And she really made Hermione mad by telling her she didn't have the 'aura' for Divination."

Darcy narrowed her eyes, then remembered how Hermione also told Professor Mcgonagall they had been in Divination. She didn't say anything to the boys, but she became suspicious.

'_Oh_!' she thought, not listening to what Seamus and Dean and now Neville were talking about, '_She mentioned something about Professor Mcgonagall helping her over the summer. She made it seem like a secret, though_.'

Darcy felt extremely impatient and wanted to know right away what was happening with Hermione. She looked around the common room for Hermione and spotted her across the room. She said to the boys, "Hey, I just remembered that I let Hermione borrow my quill earlier. I'll be right back."

She got up and started to head straight towards Hermione when two tall boys stood in her way. She looked up at them.

"Hey, Diggory. Why haven't you said hello to us yet?"

"Yeah, not going to ask how Egypt was or anything?"

She rolled her eyes and looked up at the two red heads, "Hello. How was Egypt?"

George laughed and said, "Oh, you _know_ how it was, silly. I wrote you, remember?"

Fred shook his head at her, "Honestly, Diggory. Why did you even ask that?"

She laughed and said, "Oh, _I don't know_. There was this imbecilic voice in my ear asking me why I hadn't."

Fred put up his hands and sang, "Oooo~ Did little Diggory learn bigger words?"

George mocked, "_Imbecilic_. Did you learn that while we were in Egypt?"

Darcy put her hands on her hips, "Well, I certainly didn't learn how to play quidditch because some_ certain people_ were in Egypt."

George put his hand on her head to scruff her hair while saying, "Aww, did someone miss us?"

Darcy pulled his hand off of her head and felt her hair to see if he had messed up her ponytail, "Don't mess with my ponytail. You'll leave bumps. Not that you two would know, but bumps in ponytails are a **pain** to get out."

Fred bent down and puckered his bottom lip out at her, "Aww, I'm sorry. Do you want me to wipe your tears for you?" He reached his hand up and Darcy pulled her face away.

Darcy crossed her arms and said, "I think I'm old enough to wipe my own tears, thank you. I'm old enough to drink now too."

Fred scoffed, "Aw, how cute. Well, if you're old enough to do all that, then why don't you just teach yourself to play quidditch?"

Darcy thought for a moment, "Because… I, umm.. Well, to be honest, I'm just no good. I've taught myself the rules, but playing is very different."

George laughed and scruffed just the front of her hair that was hanging down, "Oh, Darcy, don't worry. We'll teach you to play."

Fred raised an eyebrow, "George? I didn't know you were on a first name basis with her now."

Darcy fixed her fringe and then said, "Yeah, George. What's up with that?" She flashed him a flirtatious smirk.

He retaliated one back at her and then said to Fred, "Well, if she's old enough to wipe her own tears, drink alcohol, and teach herself the _rules_ of quidditch, I think she's old enough to be called by her first name."

Fred narrowed his eyes and then seemingly decided something. He shrugged, "You can call her whatever you like, but I think that since she can't teacher herself to **play** then I'm still calling her.. Diggory."

He bopped her nose as he said her last name. Then he stalked off with George following. Darcy looked where Hermione had been sitting and she wasn't there anymore.

"Oh, bugger," she said under her breath. She went back to the boys and they went down to dinner. Darcy didn't even try to talk to Hermione there, with the fear of others listening in. She figured she'd just catch her afterwards, but when Darcy thought about it later, Hermione, Harry, and Ron were missing. Darcy cursed her luck but needed to do her homework anyway, so she went ahead and did it. Then when Hermione finally came up the room, she seemed exhausted and just went to bed. It seemed Darcy would have to wait until later to ask Hermione about it.


	20. Book 3: Chapter 4: The Boggart

******DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

The next week or so, Hermione was so consumed with her homework and then going to bed so early that Darcy still didn't get the chance to talk to her. Other than that, there was talk amongst the students about Hagrid getting fired and Malfoy was still acting as though he were still injured. In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Lupin hadn't actually taught a class yet - the students assumed that he wasn't well. Potions was disastrous for Neville, and Darcy did all she could to console him after each lesson. She would always want to talk to him _during_ class, but the first time she did, Snape took 5 points from Gryffindor for talking. She took that as a warning to never try to talk to Neville again in his class and so she didn't.

One particularly dreadful day when Malfoy was still milking the 'injured' card, Professor Snape made Ron and Harry do most of the work for Draco. Snape also yelled at Neville for doing the potion incorrectly and Neville pleaded for help silently. Seeing as potions wasn't a particularly good subject for Darcy either (which is why she usually got a lot of help from her friends), she couldn't help Neville. He quietly asked for help from Hermione and she helped him as discreetly as possible. The potion they were making was a shrinking potion and to test Neville, Snape demanded to try his potion on his toad. By the time Snape tried it out, Hermione had helped Neville enough to produce a potion to shrink Trevor down to a tadpole. Even though this was exactly as Snape wanted, he still took 5 points from Gryffindor because Hermione helped.

After class, Darcy apologized profusely to Neville for not helping him. He was rather quiet but said it was okay and that he was just happy that nothing terrible happened to his toad. They went to lunch where Darcy tried her best to make Neville feel better. She told him jokes and even offered to get Marie. He rejected the idea and just seemed like he would not cheer up. Darcy felt terrible about this. However, an idea popped in her head. She looked around slightly. Seamus and Dean were sitting across from them as always and beside them a little distance away were Lavender and Parvati. The closest people on either side of Neville and Darcy were Hermione and Harry with Ron sitting across from them. However, they were still quite far away.

Darcy cautiously - as not to get attention from anyone - put her hand in her lap. She continued eating with her other hand and slid the one under the table toward Neville's and fit her fingers in between his. He jumped slightly and Seamus and Dean gave him a funny look. Darcy didn't look at him but had a goofy smile on her face. He was gaping at her and Seamus seemed to narrow his eyes. Seamus queried, "What's gotten into you, Neville?"

Neville swallowed and Darcy looked at him with a grin and asked, "Yeah, Neville. Are you okay?"

Neville blushed and his hand started to sweat in Darcy's. She just squeezed it and he just blinked a few times, saying, "Y-yeah. I'm-I'm fine."

Seamus glanced between Darcy and Neville suspiciously but then turned back to Dean and started talking about something else. Neville glanced at Darcy and she was still smirking and winked at him from the side. Neville sighed and then took a better hold on her hand as he also smirked.

* * *

In Defense Against the Dark Arts that day, professor Lupin was actually there. He looked much better than the last time Darcy had seen him - that night on the train he seemed much more tired than now. When they got to the class to sit down, Lupin told them that they wouldn't be needing their books and that it would be a practical lesson. He led them to the staffroom - on the way, they were pestered by Peeves the Poltergeist, who Lupin dealt with smoothly - and when they arrived, Professor Snape was sitting in the room by himself. Snape left when he saw the class and told Lupin that if he wanted to get anything done, not to ask Neville. To this, Darcy hooked her index finger on his pinky and squeezed. His face turned red and then Professor Lupin told Snape that he hoped Neville would actually help him in the lesson. Lupin beckoned Neville over and his face, turning more red, looked at Darcy who gave him a reassuring nod and let go off his finger.

Snape left and Professor Lupin explained that in a wardrobe - that was shaking frightfully - there was a monster called a boggart. Harry and Hermione answered Lupins questions and the class learned about how it would take the shape of whatever the person defacing it feared the most. They were taught the spell to counteract it - Riddikulus - and that to conquer it, they need to figure out how to make their fears into something funny. Laughter is what would vanquish a boggart. Then Lupin told the class they all needed to back up and come one at a time to face the boggart, Neville being the first one.

Neville stepped forward as the wardrobe shook some more. He was trembling and Professor Lupin said, "Right Neville. First thing's first. What would you say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?"

Neville was quiet and then looked around for help, stopping at Darcy's eyes for a second. He said very quietly, "Professor.. Snape.."

Almost the entire class laughed, excluding Darcy. Seamus was standing right next to Darcy and she smacked him for laughing. Neville smiled apologetically and then Lupin said, "Now, Neville. I believe you live with your grandmother."

Neville said, "Well, yes. But I don't want that boggart to turn into her either."

Lupin then reassured him that's not what he meant and asked what sort of clothing his grandmother usually wears. Neville told him what she usually wears - a tall hat with a stuffed vulture, a long green dress, sometimes a fox fur scarf, and a big red handbag. Professor Lupin told Neville that when the boggart came out of the wardrobe, it would be the shape of Professor Snape and that Neville needed only to say "Riddikulus," and imagine his grandmother's clothes on Snape. Darcy, along with the rest of the class this time, laughed.

Then Professor Lupin told everyone to think of what frightened them the most and how it could be turned into something comical. The class got quiet as everyone thought. Darcy tried imagining what scared her most. She didn't fear many things - mostly things that weren't a certain shape. She feared rejection, loneliness, the dark - things that she wasn't sure could take a form. Then she thought about storms. If there was one thing in the world that Darcy was scared of, it was thunderstorms. How could she make that comical, though? She thought about it and maybe instead of rain, there could be confetti and when it thundered, there could be the noise of party poppers. She was ready and so seemed everyone else.

Lupin let the boggart out and it did indeed assume the shape of Snape. Neville was sweating but said, "R-Riddikulus!" There was a crack and then Snape was wearing the exact clothes of Neville's grandmother. Darcy laughed with the rest of the class and Professor Lupin called Parvati forward. Neville joined Darcy back in the crowd, his classmates giving him pats on the back. Darcy smiled at him then faced her attention back on the boggart.

Parvati's boggart turned into a mummy and when Parvati cried, "Riddikulus," one of the bandages rolled off of it and it fell over, it's head coming off on the ground. Darcy smirked and Neville let out a small laugh. Seamus was next and his boggart turned into a banshee. Seamus shouted, "Riddikulus" and the banshee lost it's voice. Then the boggart changed into a number of different shapes and Lupin let the class know that it was confused and they were getting closer to defeating it. Darcy was called forward. She did as she planned and turned the storm into a party with the wave of her wand and yelling, "Riddikulus." She got back and Seamus and Neville patted her on the back. Dean was next.

Dean's boggart turned into a severed hand and creeped along the floor. "Riddikulus!" The hand got caught in a mouse trap. Ron came forward at Lupin's command and it turned into a giant spider. Darcy jumped back and grabbed for whoever's hand was closest to her. It just so happened to be Seamus. Ron said, "Riddikulus" and the spider lost all of it's legs and started rolling. Lavender jumped out of it's way and it stopped in front of Harry. Lupin ran across the room and in front of Harry. It turned into a silvery orb and Lupin said, "Riddikulus." The thing landed on the floor as a cockroach and Lupin said, "Come on Neville, let's finish him off!"

Snape was back and Neville had a much more confident air about him as he said, "Riddikulus!" Snape had Neville's grandmother's clothes on again and then Neville let out loud, "Ha!" before the boggart exploded. It burst into smoke and the class all cheered. Lupin shouted that he'd give 5 points to each student that faced the boggart, 10 to Neville because he did it twice and 5 to Harry and Hermione for answering questions at the beginning of class. He assigned them to read the chapter on boggarts and summarize it. Darcy was excited and she and her classmates happily discussed the events as they decided that that was the best Defense against the Dark Arts lesson they ever had.

Hermione seemed down to have not gotten the chance to face it and Ron mocked her. Seamus said, "Darcy, I didn't know you were afraid of thunderstorms."

Dean agreed and Neville said, "Yeah, you never told me that either."

Darcy blushed and just said, "I just don't like to talk about it.."

They got all their bags from the classroom and went back to Gryffindor tower where Darcy finally decided to take charge and talk to Hermione. She marched right up to her and said, "Hermione, I really need to talk to you." The two boys looked at her and Darcy added, "Alone."

Hermione seemed embarrassed or scared and said in a small tone, "A-alright."

The girls went up to their dorm room and Darcy locked the door so Parvati and Lavender could not come in. Darcy said to Hermione, "Look, I know you said over the summer that you couldn't tell me, but it's really been bothering me lately. The first day of classes you were in class with me, but everyone else said that you were in Divination. Not to mention, you've been carrying around all these books **and** I don't see how you've also been working on homework for Muggle Studies. That class is the same time as our Arithmancy class, too."

Hermione looked guilty and her face turned bright pink. She was quiet for a moment before Darcy realized she'd been a little harsh with her. She relaxed her expression and said gently, "I'm sorry. I just want to know what you're hiding from me.. I thought we were friends."

Hermione seemed like she was going to cry and then burst out quickly, "Professor Mcgonagall gave me a time turner so that I could get to all my classes."

Darcy was surprised, "Wait, what? A time turner? What's that?"

Hermione sighed and pulled a gold chain from under her clothes. At the end of it what an hour glass. She said slower this time, "It's this. You see, I can twist the sides," she pointed at the pieces of her necklace, "and then it'll take me back in time. I've been doing this everyday to get to all my classes.. Honestly, I've also been doing it to get more sleep."

Darcy nodded in astonishment, "That explains a lot."

Hermione put her hands to her face, "Oh, but please don't tell **anyone**! Especially not Ron or Harry! They would't be able to keep their mouths shut."

Darcy's eyebrows raised and she said, still surprised at Hermione's secret, "I won't tell a soul! Honestly, I'm surprised you even told me.."

Hermione seemed distraught, "I shouldn't have! But, I trust you, Darcy. Just don't let Mcgonagall know that you know about it."

Darcy nodded again. She would definitely keep Hermione's secret.

**Author's Note: I have made a tumblr based on Darcy and I post a lot of Harry Potter related things, so if you want to check it out, feel free! The URL is (darcy-diggory . tumblr . com) and I also will be posting my own artwork of Darcy as the story goes along. Thanks if you check it out! It's okay if you don't. :) Until next time! -xoxo**


	21. Book 3: Chapter 5: Practice

******DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

******Author's Note: Please don't forget that I have a tumblr where I will post some of my art! (darcy-diggory . tumblr . com) Feel free to check it out, I have a tab for my artwork. Currently I have two drawings up, but there will be more soon. Thanks!**

As school kept going, Hermione's secret remained with Darcy. In fact, once when Darcy and Hermione were working on Arithmancy one night, Harry came up to her and asked what they were doing. Hermione told him that they had received Arithmancy homework. Harry was confused and said, "You haven't taken Arithmancy."

Hermione gave Darcy a worried glance. Darcy piped up, "See, Hermione takes Arithmancy in the morning. However, our professor still gives Hermione the same work to do, so the two of us like to do it together."

Harry narrowed his eyes slightly and Hermione nodded in agreement. Harry said slowly, "Okay." Then he turned and walked away.

Other than that, there was a sighting of Sirius Black close to Hogwarts. The students all bustled about frightfully. Darcy had become keen on taking hold of Neville's hand underneath the table at meals. They often just did it without thinking about it. George and Fred once came up to Darcy on the weekend when she and Neville were holding hands under the table and Darcy was taking a big bite of a waffle.

Fred put his arms around Darcy and Neville. They jumped out of fright and instantly broke their hold on each other. Darcy had jumped so badly that she bit her tongue and could taste waffle, syrup, and a tiny bit of blood.

Fred had said, "Hey, how's the cute little Diggory gal with her boyfriend?"

Neville's face reddened as he scooted away from Fred and he took his arms off of them. Darcy swallowed the food and said, "Fred! You made me bite my tongue!" She took a gulp of milk and swished it around in her mouth. After swallowing that she also said, "And he's not my boyfriend."

George sat himself down on the other side of her and said, "Well, that's a relief. If he was, we'd feel bad about asking you to come play a bit of quidditch with us."

Darcy scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Oh, please. You two wouldn't feel bad even if he was my boyfriend."

Neville had remained silent and Darcy wanted to take his hand again. She looked at George and imagined what it would be like to hold his hand.. "Well, either way, Diggory. We're playing quidditch today."

Darcy looked at Fred who took a seat next to George, "Now hurry up and finish your breakfast so we can get a move on."

Darcy sighed a bit and looked at Neville, she spoke in a whisper, "Hey, I'll meet back up with you later, okay?"

Neville nodded, his face pink, and left the table. Darcy looked back at the twins and said in an irritated voice, "You know, I was going to catch up on my homework today."

Fred waved his hand in front of his face, "Ah, forget about that rubbish. Quidditch is much more important. And we figure we need to teach you before the Gryffindor team startd practice, because then the field will never be open."

George nodded in agreement, "It's hard to even book a practice for the teams during the season, so there'll be no way to teach you if we wait."

Darcy nodded and took another bite of her breakfast. She was pleasantly full so she decided that she'd had enough. She wiped her face and stood up, "Well, alright then boys. Let's get going."

They led the way to the quidditch pitch where there were a few other people here and there. Mostly there were Ravenclaws. Apparently there were tryouts for their Seeker coming up. Fred led the way to the Gryffindor locker room and when they arrived, Darcy stopped short. George didn't notice her stopping and ran right into her.

George backed away from her and said, "Well, what'd you stop for? I nearly tackled you."

Darcy was unmoved by him running into her and she said in a small voice, "Is…. Is it alright for me to come in here?"

George looked into the locker room where Darcy was gesturing and back to her. A smile spread across his face and he put his hand on her back to push her in, "Of course you can. Now come on."

Fred was making his way back towards them when they walked in and he had three broomsticks in his hand. He looked at them and said, "The brooms are a bit rough. They're the schools. But, anyway. You're wanting to learn Keeper, right?"

Darcy nodded and took the broom Fred thrusted at her. He went to grab a quaffle and left George and Darcy alone. George leaned against one of the close by lockers and laughed at Darcy's obvious discomfort.

It smelled like sweat and dirty socks. There was a shower running down a hallway that was behind the lockers and she had no idea who it was. George said, "Have you never been in a locker room before?"

Darcy replied, "Well.. N-No. I haven't. And I don't particularly fancy doing it again anytime soon."

George smirked and then Fred came back. He held the quaffle under one arm and had his broomstick in the other, "Alright. I think we're all set."

Darcy nodded and jetted back outside as fast as she could, the twins following. She took a deep breath once she got outside, but the nasty smell was still lingering in her nose. She tried to ignore it and looked up at the goals on both sides. One was already being occupied by a couple of boys she didn't recognize, so she looked back to the twins as she got on her broom. She pointed to the rings she was going to and they nodded. She flew up and they followed and when she got to the rings, she hovered in place and turned to face them.

Fred had taken off about halfway down the field and George went clear to the other side. 'Here it goes,' Darcy thought. She paced around the three hoops and watched George weave between the few players practicing other things. Fred looked back and then began to fly toward Darcy. George began to catch up with him and Fred ducked and swerved trying to avoid him. George then somehow retrieved the quaffle and circled Fred to confuse him. Then he came up fast on Darcy and threw the ball toward the goal on Darcy's right. She lurched toward it and held her arms out. She didn't catch it but she did hit it out of the direction of the goal, missing the points for George.

He flew down to pick up the ball and Fred showed up next to Darcy. He said, "Not bad, Diggory. Next time, however, you should probably try to catch it."

Darcy said, "I thought the point was to keep the player from scoring. I don't _have_ to catch the ball."

George flew back up and said, "Maybe if you caught it, I wouldn't have to fetch it, though."

Darcy rolled her eyes and the twins returned to their positions, except this time George was the one with the quaffle.

They ran this routine over and over, George often making the throw into the goal. The second time, Darcy missed and George scored. The third, Darcy hit the ball so that Fred didn't get point. The fourth time, Darcy actually caught it and George didn't get the point. The fifth, Fred scored. The sixth, Darcy caught it from Fred. The seventh, Darcy caught it from George. The eighth, Darcy caught it again from George. The ninth, Darcy hit it out of the way from George. And finally, Fred scored.

George said, "Alright, that's enough practice for today. I think you did well, Darcy."

Fred said, "Yeah, but we all know who the true winner is."

They began to descend towards the ground and Darcy said, "George is, obviously. He had the quaffle way more often than you."

Fred shook his head and said, "Silly girl, **I'm **the one who scored, though. Doesn't matter how much you have the quaffle as long as you score."

George said, "But I did score!"

Fred said, "Yes, but only once. I scored twice."

Darcy laughed a bit, "I guess you're right, Fred. You did win."

They touched down and Darcy held her broom out for one of the boys to take. They looked at her oddly and she said, "Well? .. I'm **not **going back to that room. Won't one you be a gentleman and take my broom for me?"

She smiled innocently and blinked a few times. Fred and George looked at each other and Fred snatched it from her, "Oh, give me that."

Darcy said thanks and hugged Fred which she immediately realized was a mistake because both of them were drenched in sweat. She let go and then said, "Well, I better go and do my homework. Thanks for practicing with me."

George said, "It was our pleasure. However, you didn't need much teaching. Looks like you did teach yourself how to play, along with the rules."

George gave his brother a glance and Fred said, "Yeah, looks like you're old enough to do that much, so we'll see you around. Darcy."

Darcy blushed and raised her eyebrows, "O-okay. Bye..!"

She turned around and walked the opposite direction while the twins went back to the locker room.

Within the next week, the quidditch team started practices, so like the twins had said, there wouldn't be time to play again. It was fun, though. And Darcy felt good about her performance. She'd never done that well before.

* * *

It was getting closer to Halloween and the first Hogsmeade trip was announced. When they found out, Darcy, Seamus, Neville and Dean all spoke animatedly about what they'd do. The topic of drinking didn't come up around Neville, though. When he had left for something, Darcy spoke quietly to Seamus and Dean about it.

"Do you think we should at least get him to try a little?" Darcy asked.

Seamus said, "No way. He'd probably take it way too seriously."

Dean nodded. Darcy sighed and decided to talk to Neville about it next time they were alone.

Later that evening, after they'd finished with their assignments from Potions, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, Hermione marched up to them and sat down next Darcy.

They all looked at each other and Dean said, "H-Hey, Hermione. What's the matter?"

Hermione huffed and said, "Ron thinks that my Crookshanks attacked his rat. Again."

Seamus said, "Oh, Ron's rat is just fine. Have you seen the thing? He's been living for way too long to be hurt by a cat."

Darcy nodded and Hermione sighed and said, "Yeah, well I'm just sick of him always bringing it up. It's not like it's weird or anything. That's just what cats do."

Neville said, "You know, that's why I'm glad I have a toad. Trevor's never attacked another animal. I've never had any problems with him. Well, there was once a couple months ago when he ate something that was enchanted with dark magic, but he's fine now. I just used the Moly that Darcy got me for my birthday and he was good as new."

Darcy said, "Ooohh, that's what you used the Moly on? That's right. You never got to tell me on the train. I'm glad it helped!"

Neville smiled and Seamus said, "I'm glad I don't have a pet at all. They seem like so much trouble."

Dean said, "That's not true. Animals are great companions! Just because they can be trouble sometimes doesn't mean that it's all bad."

Darcy nodded, "I think pets are very cool, don't you Hermione?"

Hermione looked up and cracked a small smile. She nodded and then said, "Thanks, guys. Anyway, I better get to bed now."

She got up and exchanged good nights with everyone and went upstairs.

After that, Seamus and Dean left, too. Leaving Neville and Darcy. It was silent and awkward for a couple moments, but then Darcy spoke up, "Soo.."

Neville looked around everywhere else and said, "Sooo.." Why was it so awkward?

Darcy tried to make conversation, "Sorry you didn't get to tell me about the Moly before."

Neville said, "It's okay."

This wasn't getting anywhere. Maybe she should say something else. It was getting quieter and quieter between them. Complete awkward silence filled the air.

"Neville.."

Neville looked up hopefully and said, "Yeah?"

Darcy blushed and said in a quiet tone, "I umm… Really like holding hands with you."

Neville blushed and looked at his hands. He gulped, "Yeah.. Me too."

There was silence again, then Neville said, "I mean, not.. **I **don't like holding my own hands I like holding your hand, too. Not that I think you like holding your own hand. I just I like it when we hold each other's hands."

Darcy giggled and held a finger up to his mouth to get him to stop rambling, "Shh. Neville. I get it."

He slouched a bit self consciously and said, "Sorry.."

Darcy hugged him and said, "Don't be sorry."

She looked around the room and noticed that the crowd was thinning out. She looked at the time and said, "Well, it's getting late. I think I'm going to go to bed now."

He agreed and they both stood up and walked to the staircase together. They walked up until they were in front of Darcy's room. Darcy looked at Neville and her stomach began to tingle. She gave him a hug and said, "Good night."

He hugged back with shaking arms, "G-good night, Darcy."

They broke and she held his hands for a moment while looking at his reddened face. She smiled and leaned forward, her heart thumping madly in her chest. She wasn't thinking. What was she doing? She kissed him on the cheek, realized what she did and then let go of his hands while she turned and rushed into her dorm room. She shut the door behind her and looked around the room. Hermione was asleep and Lavender and Parvati hadn't come back yet. Her hands were shaking and she put one up to her lips. She felt the burning on her cheeks. Why did she do that? She was ruining their friendship! She put her pajamas on and got into bed. She took her glasses off and set them on her side table. Marie curled up in a ball next to her and she began to think.

'Neville's so cute and funny and he's my best friend.' She shut her eyes and could only see his adorable green eyes and sandy hair. She imagined the way it felt when she had her hand in his. She wanted to hug him and kiss him again. But wait! She snapped her eyes open and stopped thinking about that. 'He's my best friend! If I develop a crush on him, that'll just ruin things. We'll never be best friends again. Then I'll be stuck as a third wheel around Seamus and Dean. I need to give up on Neville. It'll never work out. I just won't bring that up again and I'll never…' she became a little sad, drifting her eyes shut again, 'I'll never hold his hand again..'

She sighed a bit and began to pet Marie. She tried to think of only how soft Marie's fur was and not Neville. She tried to distract herself with quidditch. Maybe that would help. She thought of how well she did and how weird it was for Fred to call her Darcy. Since that day, he'd called her Diggory twice. She liked it better that way. Slowly, thinking of everything else except Neville, she fell asleep.


	22. Book 3: Chapter 6: Conflict

**********DISCLAIMER: I do not own any character other than my own and I also have not claimed to be the author of this plot line.**

**********Author's Note: Sorry this took so long to come out, I've just been feeling very unmotivated and I've had a lot going on. Any reviews or PMs would really be appreciated. Thanks again for the follows and favorites, I love knowing that people actually like this. Also, I'll try my best to get the next chapter out soon.**

The morning after Darcy kissed Neville on the cheek, she decided to get up and go to breakfast with Lavender and Parvati. Usually she would go with Neville, but she really didn't like what was happening with their relationship. Maybe if she spent a little while away from him, then she could talk to him again. She just needed some space to get herself together.

She went down to the Great Hall with Lavender and Parvati and there she saw that Neville was waiting on her by himself. Neville didn't like Parvati or Lavender very much, so there would be no way that he would approach her while she was with them. She avoided eye contact with him and said suddenly to the girls, "So, are you guys excited for Hogsmeade?"

Lavender said, "Oh, yes, we are. But we won't be going into The Three Broomstix to drink. Professor Trelawney said that if we went in there, then we would regret it." Parvati nodded arrogantly. Darcy found her seat next to Lavender, and Parvati sat across from them. Neville had been trying to catch Darcy's eye but she totally avoided him at all cost. She even sat so that her back was turned from his direction. They got their breakfasts and Darcy said, "Oh, well, how about Zonkos?"

Parvati looked at her with confusion, "The joke shop?" Darcy nodded. Lavender butted in, "No offense, Darcy, but aren't we a little old for jokes?"

Darcy looked down at her food. She said, "Well, we're only thirteen.. I didn't think I was _that_ old.."

Parvati scoffed, "We're old enough to drink. Don't you think that we should act like it?"

Darcy considered it for a moment, but determined that jokes were fun no matter how old. She decided not to argue and just settled it by saying, "Okay, where should we go instead?"

Lavender sat up a little bit straighter and said, "Well, Professor Trelawney said that if we went into Honeydukes, something sweet would come our way."

Darcy tried her hardest not to roll her eyes. It was a sweets shop. Of course something sweet would come her way. Parvati said, "You know, Darcy, you should come with us to see Professor Trelawney this afternoon. We were planning on going during lunch."

Darcy surely didn't want to accompany them, but she could practically feel Neville staring at her and decided it was probably the only way to keep him away from her. She smiled and said, "I think that could be interesting.."

The girls ate for a moment and then an owl came swooping down toward them. It had a letter for Lavender. She took it and opened it up as the owl flew away. Her eyes shot open and she covered her hand with her mouth. Parvati said, "What is it, Lavender?"

Lavender shook her head, her eyes started welling up with tears, she tossed the letter to Parvati before Darcy could look at what it said, and put her hands over her face. Darcy put an arm around Lavender while Parvati read the letter out loud quickly.

"Dear Lavender, I hope your classes are going well. I'm very sorry to tell you this, darling, but unfortunately something dreadful has happened to Binky. I let him out to play around like he usually does, but he didn't come back that night. So, the next morning, your father went out to search for him. When he returned, he was holding what was left of Binky. I'm so sorry darling. Your father says he found it near a fox den. We can only assume that one of the foxes must have killed him. We can go get you a new rabbit as soon as you come home for Christmas. We love you and are very sorry this happened. Sincerely, Mum."

Lavender began weeping loudly as Parvati read the letter. Darcy said, "I'm so sorry, Lavender." Parvati folded the letter and gently put it back with the envelope. Lavender then looked up suddenly, she exclaimed with a whining voice, "I should have known, Parvati! … It's the sixteenth of October!"

Parvati gasped like everything made sense. Darcy glanced between the girls and pretended she knew what they were talking about.

Parvati said, "We should've remembered that, Lavender."

Lavender just weeped loudly and Darcy still had no idea what she was on about.

* * *

They went to their classes and it came to Darcy's attention that Professor Trelawney had told Lavender that "the thing she was dreading would happen on the sixteenth of October". Darcy opted out of going to Trelawney's classroom at lunch and she chose to find Fred and George. She had a good time with them and continued to her classes. Neville had taken the hint to leave her alone and he sent Seamus to her in the middle of dinner that night.

Darcy was sitting next to George when Seamus came up behind her. "Hey, can I talk to you?" He looked at the twins and back to Darcy, "Alone?"

Darcy looked at them and back to Seamus. Fred made a scandalous, "Ooo," sound and George said, "Is this your new boyfriend, Darcy?"

Darcy rolled her eyes and said, "No, he's not George. I'm still single and I'd like to keep it that way."

Seamus raised his eyebrow at her. She said, "Erm, no offense."

Fred said, "Well, go on then. He said he wants to talk to you alone."

Darcy stood up and said, "Alright, fine. I'll talk to you two later, then?"

They nodded and bid farewell while Seamus lead Darcy to the entrance of the Great Hall. There were students here and there sitting around the outside and some walking back to their house's common room. Seamus stooped right outside the door against the wall where there wasn't anyone in hearing range

She already knew what it was going to be about and she hoped that Neville hadn't told Seamus about the kiss she'd given him. He said, "Alright, Darcy. What's going on between you and Longbottom?"

Her heart was fluttering and her face turning pink, but she said, "Wh-What do you mean? What has he told you?"

He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "He hasn't told me _anything_. He just wanted me to ask you why you haven't talked to him today."

Darcy sighed and blinked a couple times. The thought of Neville made her stomach lurch and she just wished she could stop feeling this way about him. She avoided eye contact with Seamus and said, "I really don't want to talk about it."

He uncrossed his arms and sighed. He put a hand on her shoulder and she looked at him. He said, "Look, I don't know what's going on between you two, but you better work it out before Hogsmeade. I want all four of us to enjoy ourselves.._together._"

Darcy gulped. She wanted to go with them, but she was already considering going with Lavender and Parvati. She looked at him with sorrow etched on her face, "I.. I'm not sure if it'll be worked out by then. I mean, I was actually planning going with.. Well, I mean, I was just thinking about possibly going with.. Some.. Other people.."

Seamus dropped his hand and sighed very disappointedly and ran his hand through his hair, "Oh. Well.. That's too bad because I was totally going to buy you a drink."

Darcy's eyebrows raised a bit. She said, "You..You were?"

Seamus shrugged, "Yeah I mean, I **will**. That is if you want to hang out with us. But I guess you won't, so there goes that plan."

She hugged Seamus and said, "I'm sorry." He reluctantly hugged back. When they parted he said, "Yeah, but sorry doesn't mean we'll share our first drink together."

She looked at him with sad eyes and then down to the ground. She sighed and said, "No, it unfortunately doesn't."

He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, fine. I'll probably get over it. What am I supposed to tell Longbottom, then?"

Darcy winced a bit at his name, she thought for a moment and said, "Tell him… It.. Tell him it was a mistake."

She felt her eyes begin to water and quickly turned away from Seamus. He put his hand on her shoulder and asked quietly, "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

She sniffed and wiped the tear that had fallen. She cleared her throat and let out a shaky, "I-I'm sure.."

Seamus slid his hand off of her, "Okay," he said, "I'll leave you alone about it."

Darcy turned to look at him. He gave her a symathetic smile and she returned a weak one. He went back to the Great Hall and Darcy considered what reaction Neville would have to her saying that her kiss was a mistake. She felt a knot in her throat and she wanted to cry. She made her way toward the Gryffindor tower and when she got to her dorm room, she drew the curtains of her four poster shut. She pet Marie who cuddled up to her, knowing something must be wrong.

She let the tears fall freely until she didn't feel like crying anymore. She couldn't stop thinking about how Neville would react. Would he be happy? She let more tears fall. Would he be sad? She sobbed. Would he be angry? She sniffled. Whatever his reaction would be, it hurt to think about. Why did she let these emotions get the better of her? '_Get a grip, Darcy,'_ she thought to herself. She finally stopped crying and determined that she would just try her best to forget about the feelings that weren't only of a friend. She would just get over the idiotic daydream that things would actually work out between them. If there was one thing she absolutely knew, it was that she wanted to be friends with Neville for as long as possible. Just friends, because she couldn't stand to think of her life without him there.

But, of course, to have him, she has to get over her feelings of wanting something more than friendship with him. '_The only way to do that,_' she thought, '_is to find someone else.'_


End file.
